Are We Alone
by JMB Fictional Writing
Summary: What if gods were real? Many have wondered what would happen if these all-powerful beings were proven to exist, and what would occur if they ever stepped free from the ether. What would those who had once worshiped them do? How would the other races of the galaxy react, knowing that these gods existed? What changes in fate would occur if one of these gods appeared on Elysium?
1. Chapter 1

**I came up with this little gem a while ago, but I just made the chapter and decided to do nothing with it. But then I had this inspiration to do it, and so here it is. A Crossover that I thought would have been poor, but instead I feel that it can have a great amount of potential if done right.**

 **This is an interesting concept that I have not done before. In my stories I usually have the perspective of both groups. But this time I wanted to convey a sense of unknown and mystery. So instead of focusing on both sides, I focus solely on one. Who better than the helpless Mortals as they watch Gods run around wrecking shit.**

 **Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

 **Are we Alone?**

 **Chapter 01: Gods walk among us.**

It was chaos, dozens of bodies littered the streets, while ruined buildings were the barriers that narrowed the perception that the entire city was just like that one street. Fires were consuming everything, no building or person was spared from the flames as they spread. This entire city was being destroyed, it had only begun an hour ago and already everything seemed to be over.

But it had only begun, for this was the mechanizations of something much more violent than Mother Nature.

Illyria, the capital of this verdant planet, was under siege by an army of Pirates. Hundreds of thousands of people were already dead and more would follow them. It was likely most would die at the hands of the pirates, and those that survived would suffer an even worse tragedy, slavery. None were around to stop them, all the defenders were dead and those that remained were the unfortunate that would soon be claimed by the attackers.

In one street, along with many others across the city, a group had been gathered. Civilians of many ages, but the elderly had not been spared, gunned down and seen as dead weight that didn't need to be taking up space. That only left the young and middle age, the horror of being carted off like property to soon be sold froze them to the ground.

"Please don't hurt us!" The woman cried, holding her child close, keeping him out of sight of the slavers as they were gathering up people.

"Shut up!" One pirate shouted before kicking her down and grabbed her child and pulled him off to one side.

A man, likely the father of the boy, tried to intervene and was met with a bullet. His head blowing apart like a ripe melon and crashing down in front of his now widowed wife, who cried in horror at seeing her husband die.

"If you don't sit down, you're gonna end up like him, so shut up!"

The cries died down to fearful whimpers, under the murderous eyes of their captors. Terminus pirates had raided the Human Colony of Elysium and were storming the capital by force. Thousands of them had descended onto the city and were securing it block by block, decimating everything in their path. Tanks moved through the streets crushing resistance, while Gunships would shoot down anything that thought it could leave by the skies.

The Alliance could do nothing to stop then from taking the city, for most of them had already been killed. The local military had been the first to be wiped out, destroyed by a quick strike by the pirates. The only ship in system was still in the atmosphere fighting valiantly, but it was outnumbered and alone.

The remaining Alliance soldiers that were planet-side were so few that they could only defend those they had already gathered. Unable to do anything else but protect those they were with, leaving the majority of the population of Illyria to either die or be taken away. But now most had already been gathered, ready to be taken away into the depths of the Terminus to be sold off.

"This one looks good," Fegan said, the leader of the small squad of mercs, grabbing a young woman by the hair and dragging her out to examine her.

"No please!" A man yelled, likely her father, but he was quickly kicked down and beaten into submission while the young woman wept for them to stop.

She was dragged before the rest of his little posse, all looking down at the woman with mixed expressions of disgust and delight. Either cases were bad, especially if you knew what Batarians could do to a woman, let alone a human, they despised.

"She looks decent enough, I could get a fair price for you," The Batarian said, moving her head side to side with his gun, finding some satisfaction as she wept under his inspection. "Oi, Marco, test this one out; see if she's worth anything. Remember, no going through the front, their worth more if their virgins."

"One hole is as good as any other," Marco said, moved over and grabbed the girl, dragged her through a blown out building and finding a comfortable spot to get to business.

She struggled to free herself, crying and screaming for him to let her go, but he dragged her along with a smirk on his face. As he reached a small comfy spot on the floor he tossed her down, letting her hit the floor hard. As she tried to rise he struck her with his pistol and forced back onto the floor.

"Listen, you need to fight harder, I hear that the Batarians like it better when they fight back," Marco said, working at his pants and smirking all the way.

She looked at him fearfully, her eyes locked onto his as she tried to back away. Marco smirked and looked on with satisfaction; this was actually getting him a hard-on. It was all the easier for him when he started.

But he noticed that she looked on surprised, her eyes widening and her gaze directed to something behind the merc. Marco turned and looked, and to his shock he saw someone standing right behind him. Quickly he reached for his gun and tried to turn, but he was unable to raise the weapon fully as the one behind him grabbed his arm and snapped it. Marco screamed as the shot went off several times before he was silenced when a fist connected with his face.

* * *

" _Fegan!_ "

"Yeah boss?" The Batarian replies over the comms.

" _Get your ass into gear and bring those prisoners you are rounding up, we don't have time to waste here_ ,"

"Understood, we will get on that," Fegan replied, cutting the link. "What a prick. Alright ass-wipes, on your feet, time to get you all to your new homes."

Fegan motioned his men to get moving, and noted that it had been about five minutes since he sent off Marco. Idiot wasn't finished yet? What was he doing, lighting some candles or some shit?

"Come on we need to get these people back to the plaza, tell Marco to hurry up or we leave his ass here for the Alliance." Fegan growled out, the only reason he had humans in his squad was because his boss told him he had no choice.

Something about wanting all pirates in the Terminus under his banner and not just the ones that were not human. But still if that piece of shit didn't finish up quickly he would leave his sorry as behind, even if he told him to test out the product they were selling.

"Yeah, I'll call him," Rurik said, moving to get his buddy to finish up his festivities quickly, but stopped when several shots went off and scream was heard.

That would not worry them much, seeing as killing off their victims when they were done was something usually happened. But there two things that put them on guard, the first thing was the scream after the gunshots and the person screaming was Marco.

It was silent for a few seconds, their guns aimed for the opening in the concrete wall that Marco had disappeared through when he took that girl with him. Fegan motioned his boys towards the hole, raising his pistol and keeping it zeroed in on the black confines of the bombed out building.

"Marco!?" Rurik called, slowly walking forward and keeping his rifle up, just as he got to the entrance he stopped, not willing to go inside.

"Get in there you coward!" Fegan growled.

"Fuck that, I ain't…" Before he could finish something appeared.

Something flew out of the hole, rushing past everyone and slamming right into the side of a ruined sky cap on the opposite side of the street. Everyone looked in shock before it turned to mortification as they saw the broken body of Marco embedded in the side of the car. His face was caved in and his arm looked to have been ripped off, only hanging on by a few tendons here and there.

"What the fuck!" Fegan exclaimed, backing away from the brutalised corpse. "What did this!?"

Rurik looked on shocked; he had fallen to the ground when he saw the body of his buddy fly out of the opening of the building. The way it was mauled scared him, he turned back to the hole to make sure nothing else came out, but instead he came face to face with someone.

Before Rurik could even comprehend who he was, something slammed into his side. He felt every rib crack and even his kidney burst, before he was catapulted across the street. He sailed through the air for a second or two before slamming into the side of a fallen wall. He slammed into it head first, his skull exploding on contact and then his body bouncing off it and dropping to the ground with an audible thud.

Cries of shock and alarm resounded from everyone who witnessed the brutal execution, especially those where the body landed next to. The Pirates turned and aimed at the opening, looking to the one that had murdered their buddy with a simple backhand. What they saw shocked them. It was a simple kid looking to be just getting out of his teenage years, glaring at them with a deep brown eyes.

He wore nothing but black and white, appearing as rags really; with how tattered and baggy it looked they would have thought he was a bum. But the fact he had brutally and mercilessly killed two of their guys, using his hands more than likely meant he was far from a normal human kid.

"Move and you're fucking…" Fegan started, before he was mercilessly cut down barely a second later.

In an instant the teenager in rags had covered the distance, a good twenty feet, and impaled the man upon a small sword that looked like a trench knife. It had pierced the Batarian's heart and exited out his back, leaving him to cough up blood before he fell off the blade and onto his back dead.

Everyone could only stare at the scene that had transpired before then, so unreal that they couldn't even begin to understand how it transpired. One moment the kid was on one side of the street and next he was standing over the body of their squad leader. Killing him with a trench knife that he pulled out of nowhere, and now they could see that he actually had a massive blade on his back, nearly as big as he was.

They didn't have to be told what to do, this guy had killed their leader in a nanosecond and they were likely next. They weren't going to allow that to happen. They all raised their guns, pointing right at the young man and opened fire.

In the blink of an eye the unknown swordsman had drawn his larger blade and cut down the closest mercenary to him, splitting him in half from shoulder to groin. He leapt to the side and slashed at the second merc, cutting off his head with the trench knife before kicking the beheaded corpse into another and sending both their bodies crashing through a stone barrier nearby.

Then he turned and leapt at the next target, drawing both blades back and scowling as he advanced on them with impossible speed. It looked like he was gliding, moving so fast that he simply floated over the ground towards his next victim.

He moved fast as well, covering the ground between one target and the next in only half a second and killing three people in the remaining half before moving onto the next cluster. They fought desperately to kill him, to even hit him, but they couldn't, he moved to fast for them to even get a read on where he was or going. There were twenty mercs left in that squad; after the death of their squad leader it took only eight seconds to reduce that number to only half.

The ones-sided slaughter continued on for another six seconds, until twenty two bodies littered the ground, in three times as many pieces. Standing in the middle of it all was the scowling yet stoic young man who had committed the act. Glaring at the final man who was shaking at he aimed his flimsy little pistol at the swordsman's head.

"Stay back!" The slaver screamed at him, sweating and shaking, he knew he was dead but he simply couldn't accept it, he desperately wanted to live. "I-I'll shot them!"

He tried to aim his pistol at the people they had caught, use them as a bargaining chip to get out of this. But in the time it takes you to blink the man with the swords was in front of him, his trench knife drawn back and ready to strike. With a yell of surprise the slaver raised his pistol and fired, striking the young teenager right in the forehead.

The relief the slaver felt was almost like having a good dose of Red Sand, until he noticed that there was no brain matter littering the ground. Instead you could only see the same scowl and a small grain of sand that sparkled in the dim light as it fell from his forehead leaving no mark or entry wound. The slaver dropped his weapon, either in panic or resignation he didn't know, but the man had shrugged off a point blank shot with his pistol to the forehead. He didn't even blink when he fired.

"What the hell are you?" The slaver asked, horrified at the monster standing before him, but he was given no response.

His last moments was when he felt something pass through his chest, an odd cool sensation passed through him and he felt himself simply drift away into darkness.

* * *

 **Elysium, High Orbit**

Elanos Haliot watched the readouts from the city, everything was going very well. In fact it was going perfectly, just as he had planned. The Alliance was not fully present in this sector of space, meaning it was easy pickings while their fleets were busy fighting against pirates elsewhere. With the communications array being intercepted there was no way Elysium could contact them for help.

That meant the small military force present on the planet would be quickly overrun and then this place would be unprotected. This would be the biggest haul that they would take; it would make them all rich and make him the undisputed leader of every pirate band within the Terminus. He would rule it like a king, Omega had its queen, but she ruled only that station, he would rule every inch of space within the Terminus.

But first he needed to get that damn Alliance ship out of the way; it was starting to prove troublesome. Also there seemed to be some resistance building among the populace, looks like all the Alliance Marines weren't dead yet. That could easily be dealt with in time; after all, he had four thousand boys under his command. With Tanks and Gunships, it was just about how much overkill you needed to get the job done.

"Boss, pick up now!"

Elanos scowled at the communicator on his command dais, he recognised that Batarian calling. Captain Ikrervan, bastard was always yelling out at one thing or another. It drove Elanos mad, wonder what's got him shouting this time.

"What is it?" Elanos growled irritably.

"We need help, were under attack!" Ikrervan shouted, he sounded frantic, and the sound of a lot of gun fire could be heard over the comm system, in fact it sounded as if it was starting to die off very quickly. "Why the hell won't he die!?"

"Ikrervan, what the hell is going on down there?" Elanos barked, wanting a status report, not some Batarian Pirate pissing himself in fear.

He sent him to round up survivors from a civilian bunker in the southern part of the city; there shouldn't be any form of resistance in that section of the city. In fact the Alliance barracks and space port was there, and anyone who was in there should all be dead. So who the hell were they fighting against?

"This guy! He fucking won't die, we keep shooting him and he won't die!" Ikrervan screamed over the comm, and the firing became scarce and sporadic, in fact it went silent as soon as the message ended. "No! Please don't!"

The sound of flesh and armour being torn apart was heard over the comm and for a moment Elanos didn't know how to react to that. He looked around the bridge, down at the people from the pedestal he stood upon to overlook his command. Each of them was concerned, likely because he looked the same. He quickly recollected himself and glared down at them, he tapped onto the comms, he needed to try and get back into contact with that idiot.

"Ikrervan, pick up. I said pick up!" Elanos barked, but he received no response from below, and as he quickly moved through the list he found that several others have been lost.

Fegan, Edremis, Decress. All of them were unresponsive, and all of them were in the southern section of Illyria. Something was not right about this.

"Get me Kherlak!" Elanos yelled, recomposing himself and getting everyone back to their posts, he couldn't let them see his concern. He would not be brought low, he would win this, no matter what got in his way.

* * *

 **Illyria Main Square**

Commander Kherlak Fon'noba leisurely watched as his small army advanced through the streets from the plaza of Illyria, the very heart of the city. It was here they planned on gathering every civilian still alive and ship them out to the Terminus, making a handsome profit for everyone.

This is where they had set up a remote command post and then spread out across the city, it was very easy actually. Illyria didn't have any anti-air defences in this area or anywhere in the city for that matter. So after they took out the spaceport all they had to do was land here, kill the person in charge of this colony and then move out and start pillaging. And it was going very well.

But Kherlak had heard that in the north his counterpart was having his ass handed to him by a few human soldiers, in fact he was actually dead. The rest of them were having trouble with this one little woman that was defending a bunker there. That was laughable.

But that could wait till he was done here, there was a lot to plunder and since the Alliance wouldn't be coming to help any times soon they could wait a little while. Who knows, maybe they will get that woman and her buddied before he needs to go up there and save them.

"Kherlak!" Looking down the Batarian Commander lifted up his Omni-tool and listened to the irritating voice of that stuck up Turian he had to follow.

Seriously, Elanos Haliot was a bastard to work for; demanding and arrogant were the best words to describe him. He may not be any better but the Turian had some sort of complex where he thought he could become the king of the Terminus simply by raiding this place. It would get him a good profit but actually make him the ruler of all Terminus Space. He could raid Palavan, Thessia, Sur'Kesh and even the Citadel Council and still wouldn't get the crown. So how he thought attacking some human colony did not seem to compute that to the guy that it wouldn't give him much anything else than a good heap of credits.

But there was no chance of getting that through his bony hide because he was an idiot.

"What?" Kherlak asked, his words but a simply drone of irritation and boredom.

"I am getting reports that your men are being attacked by something, what is your position from Captain Ikrervan?" Elanos demanded.

Kherlak looked surprise for a moment, his men were under attack, and he hadn't heard anything about it. But now that he thought about it, he hadn't heard a single thing from most of his southern teams.

"Him? Uh… let me see… three clicks south east from here, he is in the industrial hub of the city, sent him there with fifty guys to clear the area. Along with a few other teams." Kherlak replied, not really caring, if they were under attack her was sure he could handle it, besides he had seven other units in the area as well that could provide backup.

"According to a call I got from him he's dead, and all his men with him!" Elanos yelled, and then Kherlak looked at his Omni-tool in alarm. "Better yet! I can't raise a single team in that entire region!"

"What? Impossible, there ain't anything left here that can fight back." Kherlak said, disbelieving that one of his guys was dead, let alone the entire company he had sent to secure that region. "Here let me… What the fuck?"

Kherlak looked on, along with nearly five hundred other pirates as a single human stood at the intersection of a street off to the south. He wore a deep scowl on his face as he walked forward with purpose. Despite the threatening advance they could only gawk at the fact he wasn't armed with a rifle, but two swords.

"You got to be fucking kidding me," Kherlak said, actually looking amused for once in his miserable life.

"What is it? Report damn it!" Elanos yelled, but he was swiftly hung up on and Kherlak looked at the boy with a cruel smirk on his lips, leaning onto the hood of the tank and propping his head onto his fist he watched the boy walk forward.

"Never thought I would see something so funny that I am almost tempted not to shoot a human being," Kherlak said, shaking his head with a chuckle. "Hey give him a good death; like in those crappy vids those humans always talk about."

A Krogan and Turian walked towards the spikey haired teenager, both aiming their respective weapons at his head. The young man stopped as they took aim, but never took his eyes off the Batarian in the tank. Kherlak saw this and smirked all the more smugly, gesturing him to even come over and get him.

"You got balls human, but that ain't shit when you can't even make a move when we got these two guns on your head." The Krogan said, tightening the hold on his shotgun as he stood on the kids right side.

"What do you expect; dumb kid probably thought he could kill us with swords, humans, so stupid." The Turian replied, aiming his pistol lamely at the human's chest.

"Say goodbye human," The Krogan stated, those were his final words to the orange haired youth.

What happened next was so fast that no one even registered what happened until the saw that the blades that were once at the boy's side were now above the bisected duo. Everyone watched in muted shock as the boy in a split second had killed both the Krogan and Turian. Their bodies falling away, the former having his torso and face split open and the latter cut in two.

The next moment he was no longer there, running forward so fast that it defied how fast a normal human was capable on foot. He went from zero to two hundred as soon as he took the first step, and was already cutting a path through a dozen pirates and mercenaries as he went straight for Kherlak.

"Turn the tank! Turn the tank!" Kherlak roared to the driver, slamming his fist on the top of the tank, telling him to turn and fire on the kid that was still carving through his man. Already halfway to the scared shitless Batarian, and only a few second away from being right on top of him.

As the tank turned fully the aim at the swordsman, the gun went off but never met its mark. He simply disappeared with a quiet swish, leaving behind a small cloud of dust to show where he once stood. Before Kherlak could figure out how he pulled that off, he saw a shadow above him.

Looking up the Batarian commander saw something moving right for him, before he could discover what, it collided with his face and gave a new meaning to the word 'whiplash'. The next thing that was heard was a loud snapping sound as his head shot back, his neck breaking and then hanging like a wet noddle on his shoulders.

Everyone watched as the man that had killed their commander vault off his head and do several flips through the air and finally land several meters behind the tank. Landing perfectly and straightening himself up like an acrobat, the same scowl on his face as he gazed at everyone around him. Showing them that he was far from over and was planning on doing to them what he did to Kherlak.

"Fucking shoot!" Someone yelled out, the only thing they could do to survive, not that it could save them.

* * *

"What the hell is going on down there!?" Elanos demanded, he had been scattered radio traffic all over the place.

It would seem that woman he had thought would not be a problem was actually holding her own against an entire company of Mercs. In fact she has inflicted more casualties than the entirety of the Alliance military presence that was once on this planet when they first attacked. How that was possible simply eluded the Turian, there was no way she could be that good or have a position to cause so much damage.

But now, now he was getting scattered reports that came in from other squads that were dying out. Something had killed almost every single platoon and squad in the southern part of the city; that was several hundred men. What the hell was going on down there?

"Sir, the main group in the Plaza Square is under attack!" One of his deck officers called out.

"What?" Elanos asked, the Turian's voice low and barely considered a question but a growl of fury.

"I don't know exactly but their under attack… by something…" the officer answered, finding it hard to answer the question under the gaze of his superior, as well as what he had seen killing the men.

"Get me a feed down there!" Elanos roared, and soon enough he had several screens up and showing off the battle.

Elanos felt the burning rage in his veins turn ice cold when he witnessed the battle, but it wasn't a battle, this was a slaughter. Battles were between two opposing forces; this wasn't that, it was a massacre, because his men were being decimated in droved and killed in ways that were simply horrifying.

Hundreds of bodies littered the massive square in the centre of the city, nearby streets were also clogged with the dead. The few hundred or so survivors were still firing at what had killed them all, but it did little good. For whatever they faced did not suffer under the barrage of bullets, nor did it care for the biotics that tried to repel or hinder it, even the few tanks could not stand against its otherworldly immunity to advanced weapons.

Helmet cams showed the battle from the soldier's perspective, one by one they went dark as their operators were killed. Each second someone died, brutally, savagely, mercilessly. They saw him, the single person doing the killing. Everyone watched in muted horror as a single teenage boy moved through the battlefield with speed that defied anything remotely possible for a normal being of flesh and blood.

Carving through people, tanks and APC's like they were nothing but wheat to the farmers scythe. He was actually carving them apart with two swords, actually decimating their entire army with nothing but a large butcher's blade and a short sword. It was surreal and impossible to wrap their heads around; he was going this and shrugging off small arms fire.

From the looks of it, he didn't even have any shields or barriers up, nor did he have armour. He wore some black and white rags that hung loosely on his body, looked like leather or silk. Yet he still was shrugging off the collective fire of over a hundred guns like it was nothing but light rain on a cloudy day.

"Sir… what do we do?" Someone asked, Elanos didn't reply at first, simply staring into the still image of a helmet cam of one of the dead, seeing the scowl and piercing gaze made him freeze.

Those eyes terrified him, something about them made a shiver go up his spine and almost shake in fright. Those were the eyes of someone who saw the people he was killing as nothing, he did not despise them, and he simply did not see them as worthy of existing. It was as if he was looking down at an insignificant mortal.

"Get the dropships down there, send everyone we got, get the damn Gunships, get everything on that thing!" Elanos yelled, watching as the hundred or so quickly go down to a few dozen, and even then they likely would all be dead before the reinforcements arrived.

* * *

"Alright, approaching Illyria main square," The dropship pilot said, he along with ten others were offloading all their troops in the square, with about twenty Mantis Gunships as escorts. "What the hell?"

"What is it?" The platoon captain barked, not liking surprises or the fact that the pilot looked scared for a moment.

"Uhhh, give me a minute," The Pilot said, brushing off the platoon leaders question. "Hey boss, listen I think landing there may be a bad idea… well because all I see on the ground is bodies, and all of them are our guys… you can't be serious, a pair of swords?... Damn it."

"Well?" The Krogan captain yelled.

"You guys are all fucked," The pilot replied, deciding to hide the fact that over five hundred of their boys were all dead. By the personal accounts of one of the bridge crew, by one guy who used a pair of swords, meaning the three hundred they were dropping off now were screwed no matter what.

"What the hell does that…?" The Krogan couldn't finish before the ship exploded, engulfed in a bright fireball that reduced it to nothing but scrap metal.

* * *

"Shit, we lost a dropship! Do they have anti-air guns?" A Mantis pilot yelled out, swerving his craft away from the plume of smoke where the dropship once occupied.

"Mantis-13, above you!" Another Mantis pilot called out over the comms.

When the pilot of Mantis-13 looked up, his eyes widened shock as someone was standing there right above his cockpit, two swords in hand and scowling. He was looking right at him, for some reason Mantis-13 realised he was a dead man.

"How the hell did he get on me!?" Mantis-13 yelled.

"Don't move, I'll take him…" Before Mantis-07 could finish his statement or fire his mass-accelerator machine gun, the gunship was sliced in half by a wave of blue energy that also tore through the side of the building beyond it.

"Shit! Is this kid a biotic or something!?" Mantis-03 yelled, before his ship suffered a similar fate and promptly exploded after having his left wing and tail end of the gunship severed by a vertical wave of energy.

Then they watched as he turned and walked along the top of the Gunship and sever both its wings, cutting off its only means of flight. Mantis-13 fell from the air, its pilot screaming before becoming silent as the craft crashed into the ground and was engulfed in a massive fireball.

Everyone had expected that the guy would fall with the Mantis, but instead they all watched as he defied the laws of physics by simply standing on thin air. The man's glared hard as he looked at the different gunships that hovered around him.

"What the fuck?! That's impossible!" Mantis-08 yelled, aiming his Precision Kill Rockets on the flying man, who remained fixed on his position.

Then he disappeared, a second later a gunship exploded in a brilliant display as its entire frame disintegrated into chunks of hot metal. From the plume of fire and smoke appeared the man, gliding to the next gunship and severing it in half with a single slash of his massive sword.

The fifteen remaining gunships turned to try and take out the attacker, but again he vanished from sight and reappeared behind Mantis-02. Stabbing his smaller blade through the tail of the gunship, then forcefully pulling the massive vehicle around, despite having almost no leverage he pulled it off, and smashed it into the side of another gunship. Both broke apart and fell to the streets below, crashing and exploded as they met asphalt.

A rocket sailed towards the man, striking him in the back and engulfing him a fiery cloud. A cry of satisfaction was heard from a pilot, before it turned to a shout of fear as an arc of energy shot from the cloud and consumed his gunship. Appearing from the cloud was the man, completely unharmed and casually walking forward as if there was nothing beneath his feet other than solid ground.

"By the spirits, we're all going to die!" His last words as a blade pierce the cockpit and ran through his heart.

* * *

"Get to the ground now!" The dropship pilot shouted, leaving the chair himself to get out, knowing he likely would be dropped like the gunships were being if he even tried to flee. As soon as the soldiers exited their craft they came upon the site of the massacre, finding the brutalized bodies of every other pirate that was part of their little army.

"What did this!?"

"Fucking hell, this ain't right,"

"Spirits, this shouldn't be happening, this should have been easy."

Everyone who exited the craft immediately stepped upon the plaza that was littered with the bodies of hundreds of dead pirates, merc and slavers. Cut apart in hundreds of different ways, not a single one had something not missing, an arms, a leg, their upper torso. Whatever had killed them had done so brutally and without a single shred of pity. They were likely next when he got back.

"Fuck this! I'm out of here!" Someone yelled, only to be gunned down by one of his own.

"No! We are not leaving, we are not letting some shit get the better of us, we kill him and we win this. So man the fuck up and kill…" The man yelled, bringing everyone to heel, but was halted when an explosion went off behind him.

A burning gunship crashed into the dropship a few meters behind the man, a shred of metal impaling the Batarian from behind and sending him flying forward. Everyone turned and looked to see not a single gunship was still present; the few remaining dropships still trying to escape were quickly shot down by eaves of condensed blue energy. Leaving no room for escape, they were trapped there.

Then he came, like and angel of death, he descended from above.

He moved like a missile towards the pirates, slamming feet first into closest man and using him as a board to surf across the ground and slash at anyone he passed. Before he flipped off the corpse he was riding and kicking it right towards a group of mercs, sending them all sprawling like bowling pins. Everyone had no choice but to raise their weapons and fight now, he was going to kill them and they had no choice but to fight and try to survive.

"Open fire!"

* * *

Elanos watched the battle from the surveillance cameras, there was no way he could rationalize what was happening. Every single time he saw that boy he saw something impossible, he shrugged off heavy weapons fire, missiles and even tank rounds. Biotics were nothing but an inconvenience to him, and the soldiers in his way were swatted aside like they were nothing.

They were all dead, all his men were dead. Every single soldier he had sent planet side was dead. All because of that one man, that boy, that monster. He had lost his army to a single combatant, one thing had turned the tide and ended his dream and destiny with only two swords in hand.

He turned to see one of his officers shouting something; he didn't hear most of it, too shocked to actually pay attention fully. That Alliance ship seemed to have inflicted heavy damage to their fleet, they had lost a great deal of ships and were taking fire.

Seventy percent, he lost fifty ships to just one, only twenty were left. There was no point in this anymore, it was over, the Blitz had been broken. He slumped forward, the feeling of defeat so painful that he actually felt his heart ache. His dream had been destroyed, and not because of some resistance or lucky break. But because of some in-human monster that had come from no-where and destroyed his entire army.

"Get the ships together, we are leaving," Elanos Haliot said, barely audible to the crewmen still working.

With that he took his ships to FTL, escaping from the planet that had withstood the Blitz and brought a blow that would be felt to all people in the Terminus for generations to come.

* * *

Jessica staggered down the street, holding her wounded side with her free hand while keeping her pistol tightly in her other as her arm lulled to the side. Each step was painful and she didn't know how much longer she could keep going, she was bleeding out and her vision was swimming.

Her defense had been pretty bold, holding off a hundred pirates with only a rifle and a pistol. She felt quite tough then, like she was some bad-ass that she heard about in those old stories on earth. Legends that held off armies like it was nothing, considered a hero and the greatest of mankind, or something along those lines. But now she was going to die because she didn't duck when she should have.

"Idiot… should have stayed in cover while the shields recharged…" Jessica scolded herself, staggering down the uneven road.

She stepped onto a small uneven piece of ground and fell to her knees, nearly falling on her face as well. She bit back a cry of agony as she tried to stand back up, but her legs did not follow her command, instead she remained rooted there on the ground.

'Guess this is it then,' Jessica thought to herself, she had a good run and did pretty well considering.

Holding back the pirates was alright, but maybe they would give her a posthumous award for bravery or something like that. It was always good to get something out of working your ass off, she had done a lot in her life and usually only got victimised because of it. 'bout time she did something that got her some recognition.

"Hope I get a statue… or something…"

But before she could contemplate this she looked up, and for a moment she thought that she was hallucinating. Standing there was a young man, as best as she could make out, in black clothes and holding two swords. She didn't understand what she was seeing at first but regardless she raised her pistol and waited.

'Ain't going to let someone do me in, I die when I bleed out at my own damn pace,' Jessica said to herself, not willing to let someone get the glory of killing her.

But she couldn't pull the trigger, her hand felt so numb and heavy that even raising to weapon to aim required all her strength, pulling the trigger was all but impossible. Jessica remained in that state for nearly a minute before her hand collapsed and she along with it, she hit the ground with a thud and she felt her vision go blurry and sound become almost mute.

As she lay there on her side she thought for a moment, a sense of mortality coming to the forefront of her mind as she came to realise it may be the end.

'I'm dying… what's going to happen now?' She thought, actually scared for a moment, so many questions moving through her mind.

Was there an afterlife? Did she deserve to go there? How could she let herself die? Knowing that these questions were all unanswered, how could she allow herself to die?

"I… don't want… want… to die…"

Jessica wheezed, scared for the first time in her life, she had been in shootouts and even taken a few beatings, yet this couldn't compare. Her own mortality was in front of her and it was fading away.

She felt herself get pulled onto her back; she opened her eyes enough to see the man above her, kneeling next to her. He looked her up and down, his face almost obscured from her vision as the blurriness continued to hide his appearance. But she could see his scowl and young face; in fact he looked to be around nearly her age, maybe younger.

She wondered what he planned to do, maybe have a swing at her before she croaked. Wouldn't surprise her, pirates were a filthy bunch and deserved to be shot on sight, she was just angry her last moments were going to be raped in the street while dying. She just hoped she expired before this guy did, didn't need that on her mind before she met her maker.

But to her surprise he didn't, he looked down at her and then to her wound, placing a hand over it. She gasped in pain for a moment, coming back to life for just a second and seeing him smiling. But it wasn't a smile of contempt or even superiority, it was almost kind, reassuring. As if he was saying everything was going to be alright.

Jessica felt her entire body jolt as her side tingling, she didn't know what was happening but it was happening. She wanted to fight off whatever this guy was doing, stop him before he did something to her.

"It's alright," He said, soothing her, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving a small smile. "It will be okay, you are going to be fine. You don't have to be afraid anymore."

Jessica didn't know what he was doing, but she felt her pain recede and her body go numb. Was she still dying? Was he giving her some kind of last sermons before she passed on? She did not know, but for a strange moment she felt alright, as if nothing was wrong.

She did not know what she was feeling right now, but she felt at peace.

"You're going to be alright."

Those were his last words, she felt the darkness claim her, and for a moment she felt at peace. Even as the black consumed her, she wasn't afraid. Instead, she felt safe.

* * *

 **Twelve Hours Later**

"Move out, find any survivors and get them to the spaceport," Major Senet Blackson called, directing the relief unit through the streets of Illyria.

They had arrives nearly an hour ago after receiving a distress call from the SSV Agincourt of the raid on Elysium they came as fast as they could. But what they found was not what they had expected. It was a massacre, but not onto those who they had thought.

They marched down streets and into buildings, finding the bodies and scattered remains of pirates and mercs. Blood soaked the streets and the smell of it in the air was palpable, some of the Marines couldn't even hold down anything in their stomachs when they made planet fall.

All they found was bodies, and survivors telling a tale that did not make any sense, about a swordsman that defeated the entire Pirate army singlehandedly. He did not believe for a second what he had been told, yet when he witnessed the situation firsthand, he doubted anything human could do this. He pegged it too shock and maybe hallucinations, after all seeing this maybe it became like Chinese whispers. Yet for good reason he was concerned.

Bodies were torn apart, the Plaza was the worst of it all, it was a slaughter house there. Bodies and bloody dampened the entire area. They didn't have any specifics but it would seem that close to a thousand people have been killed there, that they could guess. With all the dismembered body parts it would take weeks to get an accurate head count.

There were no pirate survivors, no mercs or even viable identification on remains. All they knew is that something appeared and killed every single one of them within an hour. Thousands dead, most were civilians that had been killed in the beginning of the attack. But now a good portion of the casualties were among the pirates.

"What in god's name did this?" Senet said, looking down at the severed bodies of fifteen or maybe less Batarians.

"Sir, we got a survivor over here!" Senet turned to see someone down the far end of the street.

He moved over to the Marine's potions and as he turned down to the right he found a very peculiar sight. He found a lone woman lying in the middle of the street, a small amount of blood on her side and covering her armour. Yet no wound was present.

She was an Alliance Marine, one of the only ones left, and she was a survivor.

"Is she alive?" Senet asked, moving over towards the downed woman quickly, medics were already on her.

"Yes, she is alright; although she seems to be suffering from Blood Loss, no idea how, she doesn't even have any open wounds." The medic replied, scanning her with his Omni-tool and finding no major health issues except for a lower than normal blood pressure and cell count.

"Get her up to the ship, she is going back to Arcturus," Senet said, if she was alive they needed to know what she knew.

Maybe with a little information they can determine what happened here, even with all the civilian testimonies they needed something a little more concrete. A report from an actual Marine may help.

Yet their job was far from over, they had hundreds of thousands of civilians still in the city, looking for shelter and a place to be safe. Sadly they had to evacuate the entire city, which would take a few days. They couldn't leave them in Illyria; it was a nightmare here, with all these dead bodies, people would go bad from the smell alone.

But the questioned remained. What had been the cause of all this death?

"Sir, we got a call from Admiral Hackett, he wants us to start the evacuation," A Marine said, drawing Senet from his revere.

"Already?" Senet asked, surprised, they had only been here for a short time and they were already having people evacuated.

"Hackett wants everyone off world, saying that this place is a danger zone right now," The Marine replied.

"Alright, get her on the shuttle, and make sure she is treated immediately, we need to know what she knows." Senet said, and watched as she was carted off on a stretcher.

He looked at her ID tag when she passed. Corporal Jessica Shepard. Hopefully she could tell us what the hell happened here.

* * *

 **Tell me what you think, love it? Hate it? Indifferent? Let me know and I will answer your questions.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry if this chapter seems a little short, but it is sadly all I could come up with for this point, and I promise the next chapter will have much more within it, I promise.**

 **Also this story has skyrocketed high, I mean I have never had so many people looked at this and liked it. One chapter garnered 46 reviews, 101 followers and 95 favourites, with a viewer count of 1242 in just over a week. That is incredible. Simply incredible, I cannot wait to see what happens when this gets some steam in its engine. Will be awesome I am certain.**

* * *

 **Are We Alone?**

 **Chapter 02: Fallout**

"Corporal? Can you hear me?"

Shepard felt her bleary eyes open as she heard the voice call, her head was pounding and she felt incredibly stiff. As she sat up she felt something press her down, and as she opened her eyes she saw the face of a medical officer looming over her.

"Where am I?" Shepard wheezed out, her throat dry and sore.

"Arcturus Station, you were found unconscious near a civilian shelter in Illyria on Elysium," The Doctor said soothingly, placating the woman who had just woken up. "You may feel a little weak, you suffered from severe blood loss, but you didn't have any serious wounds, despite this we were able to stabilize you."

Shepard looked around, finding the clean crisp dull grey medical ward of the station. Despite being a bland color it was clean and shining, and had a very strong stale air about it. Letting her head drop back onto the table she tried to ignore the pain in her body and keep awake, but she could barely keep her eyes open for more than a second or two.

"So tired…" Shepard said, slowly drifting off back to sleep.

* * *

 **Captain Anderson's Office**

"Reports have yet to be confirmed but we can say that there has been a major assault on Elysium by pirate groups, we have no information other than the attack was repelled." The Reporter said, showing off some images of the city from the sky and streets, cornered off by Marines. "No official statement has been given, and eye witness accounts have been scarce."

David Anderson watched the report with narrowed eyes; he could tell that most of what was being said was true, but also layered with false advertisement. He could see the work of people trying to keep things under wraps; he often was the one who had to do it at times, back when he was a grunt.

"Based on what information has been gathered the SSV Agincourt dealt a huge blow to the invading fleet despite being the only ship in system." The reporter continued. "It was through the efforts of this ship and its crew that helped repel the invading pirates, and the brave men and woman that sacrificed their lives to protect the civilians."

Another lie, he could tell. Reports had come in that the Agincourt had not been able to repel the enemy fleet but only rely on hit and run tactics to wear the enemy down. The ground fight had been a slaughtered; almost every single soldier on the ground had been killed in the fighting. Save for maybe a dozen Marines and soldiers, most of them were recovering from the trauma and wounds.

"Many are calling this a major victory for the Alliance, saying that this is the first step in halting piracy within System Alliance controlled space and the protection of their colonies." The report finished, while Anderson cut the feed and leaned back in his chair.

"I can tell this is mostly fake, so tell me, what happened down there?" Anderson asked, looking across his desk and towards one of his long-time friends.

"The part where the Blitz was broken by our boys is fake, but the fact something took them down is true," Hackett replied, looking at Anderson seriously. "We have no idea what did this, but based on the overwhelming testimony from survivors; I can say we are dealing with something we have never seen before."

"What would that be?" Anderson asked, looking a little unnerved.

He had read the reports given; he had not been privy to the testimonies given by the civilians and the few soldiers. But he knew that whatever did what he did to those pirates was far from human, it tore them to pieces and left their remains scattered across the city.

"All we know is it looks human, but can do inhuman things, and you know what that means for us," Hackett said.

Anderson got an idea what he was talking about.

"So let me ask, he one of ours?" Anderson inquired, looking at his friend in the eye, wanting to make sure he didn't have to lie.

"No, we have absolutely no idea what the hell did this, and I can tell you, I am doubtful even if he was, we didn't make him. We couldn't make him." Hackett replied, unlike Anderson he read the reports, and he knew for certain what this teenager was supposedly capable of was impossible.

The only way they could determine if it was true would be later, they were getting in evidence that would either refute the claims, or make them stand. He was actually dreading what was going to come from that, and he had to make sure that when he did see it, he was ready to act on what he saw.

"Is it that bad?" Anderson asked.

"Very, but I am more worried about the implications of this getting out than it being true," Hackett said, this would shake up the entire totem pole if it got out something did this, someone did this.

"What do you plan on doing?" Anderson inquired.

"Whatever I need to," Hackett replied. "Be sure to make sure we have no reports of this guy on file, omit everything, we can't let this get out."

"I understand," Anderson replied, nodding his head as he watched the Admiral leave his office.

He signed; it would seem that he was going to have a lot of bad days ahead of him. With whatever happened on Elysium he had to make sure that nothing came out from it, reports would need to be altered and changed and he had that job. Luckily he had a few people that could go about that, he just needed to make sure everything was done right otherwise they may leave a trail someone may try to find.

* * *

 **Two Days Later**

Shepard groaned as she woke up, it was another day stuck in this room while she waited for whomever to come by and tell her she was ready to be discharged. After being cleared she had been escorted to a nice little room where she could stay for a while, mainly to relax and wait till someone called on her.

Her report had been filled out and from there she had been told to remain where she was. She had no idea what was going on but it would seem that she was getting shafted for some reason, and she had no idea why.

But at least being trapped in this room gave her time to think, it seemed to be the only thing she could do in the very Spartan abode she had been given. She thought about a few things, but oddly enough all were of her past and her future. Looking back at her life and wondering where it would go from here.

But when she looked back she could feel the pain and misery of it all, there was nothing back there that she wanted to look back on and remember. Everything on Earth was a nightmare for her, fighting to survive and usually that involved killing other survivors. So why dwell on things back then? When she had a chance now? Because it was never meant to be.

"Why the hell am I even still here?" Shepard sighed, running a hand through her ebony hair, she shouldn't be thinking like this.

Home was where she was meant to go back to, despite it being the most unlivable hell hole in the entire Sol System. But yet right now she felt like doing something else, forgetting about going back and actually doing something more for herself. Call it selfish, and you wouldn't be wrong, but her entire life had been one massive shit stain and she wanted to have something else.

"Corporal," Shepard turned to the door to see someone standing there, hands clasped behind his back and staring at her expectantly. "We are ready for you."

Shepard got off her cot and stretched, feeling her muscles strain slightly and her bones crack back into place. With a sigh she followed the man out of the room, and she idly noted that this guy wasn't normal brass, he was clearly different. His uniform looked the same yet the lining and stripes were different, he also did not show any signs of rank or station of authority.

"Who are you?" Shepard asked, strolling beside the man.

"None of your concern at the moment, now through here," The man said, and Shepard got the idea this guy was some kind of spook.

Shepard grumbled before she stepped forward and into an office, and to her surprise she found three people waiting for her. One was an unknown man with a similar uniform to the one that had escorted her here; all that she could distinguish was his neutral appearance and combed back grey hair.

But the two others took her by surprise. The first was Captain Anderson, a damn legend from what she had heard at the Academy and bother to listen to. One of the First N7's and a damn good soldier, said to be one of the best that had even been made. His grizzled features were cast in a frown as he stared at Shepard and stood beside another man who was older by a decade or two.

"Glad you could make it Shepard, we have been expecting you, sorry for the long wait." Admiral Hackett said, motioning her forward. "Take a seat."

Shepard moved forward, a little uneasy about being in the same room as two of the biggest dogs in the Alliance Navy, she felt overwhelmed. She took her seat and sat uncomfortably, she did not know what was going on but it had to be big if they were both here, along with another spook. She just hoped that this was going to end with something other than her being stonewalled by some kind of B.S.

"Corporal Jessica Shepard, born in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Born in 2154, no specific date known or residence confirmed. No known family or relatives, you are a mystery Shepard," Hackett said aloud, looking over the report before placing it down on the table. "I don't think I need to ask why you join the Alliance Navy."

Shepard was concerned now, more than likely they knew about her past or enough that they could potentially lock her up. Most of the time they did not care for this, they often let it slide as they wanted good soldiers. But if she had the intention of leaving after she served her time she would become a liability that they couldn't have.

"We know that you are part of the Tenth's Street Reds, quite a big gang in that state, in fact they almost run the entire underworld there." Hackett said aloud. "We have had some of their people come through here at time, looking to get some combat experience before returning, giving their gang a fighter that can actually fight. Do you see where we have a problem here?"

Shepard did not answer, she felt a bead of sweat role down her neck, she was done for, and there was no way around this or out of this.

"Now I am going to give you two choices here, the first is simple, you can cooperate with us and we will ensure there is no jail time, or we can skip the formalities and haul you off, somewhere other than Earth." Hackett replied.

Shepard could see that the Ultimatum had only one avenue she could take, whatever they wanted to know they wanted. Likely they wanted something on her gang, people that she had lived with and been a part of since she was a kid. Any other time she would simply tell them to go to hell, say that she doesn't rat out people she works with, after all that would likely end with her getting killed later.

But instead she felt herself holding back on that, wanting to defend them, why? She didn't know why she was having these doubts but what she was feeling now was simply her trying to come to terms with the fact she had no idea where her life was going. Should she stay with what she knows or go with something else, and as she thought about it, defending those people, despite being the closest people she could call friends was not worth it.

"What do you want to know?" Shepard asked, looking at Hackett right in the eye.

"Information," Hackett replied, passing her a small data pad, showing off a small report on the incident on Elysium.

Shepard was confused; didn't they want to know about the Tenth Street Reds? She looked up at them for a moment, not understanding what was going on.

"Tell me, did you come into contact with anything strange on the planet?" Hackett inquired, and again Shepard was confused, she had no idea what the hell was going on.

"Sir… I don't understand…" Shepard started, obviously confused.

"Tell me Shepard, do you know what actually happened on Elysium?" Hackett replied.

"No sir, I was part of a small squad that held off some Pirates, my team got cut off and I was ordered to cover their retreat, so I held them off, after that I was shot." Shepard replied. "When I passed out I assumed they were driven off by the Fleet."

"Yes, we read into that, you suffered based on the report as punctured Kidney, something that would have killed you in minutes. Yet here you are." Anderson answered for Hackett. "But, did you see anything else, your report mentioned you were treated by someone."

Shepard was silent for a moment, thinking back to that life and death moment where she was about to die. The feeling was terrifying now that she thought about it, she had nearly bitten the bullet and ended up meeting her maker. It scared her.

Yet he came and saved her, not some crappy medic and shouted her that she would be alright and everything was right in the world. No, he came to her and gave her comfort, he did not lie or shout or become frantic, he soothed her, made her feel at peace. It was different, it was a kindness.

"Shepard," Hackett drew her out of her revere.

"Sorry… sir, I did come into contact with someone, he treated me and I passed out." Shepard replied, wondering for a moment what was going on here.

"Can you describe him?" Anderson asked, and again Shepard was caught by surprise by the question, what was going on here?

"Tall, Asian I think, orange hair – very bright orange – and he wore all black." Shepard said, listing off what she could remember. "He was young too, maybe eighteen or nineteen. Oh, he… I think he may have had swords, for some reason."

Hackett and Anderson looked at one another for a moment, an understanding glance passing between them. Shepard caught onto this, there was definitely something going on. It would seem that they knew who this guy was, or at least that what she thought, they were not asking for any certainties. That meant they knew this guy, or of him, but why were they so interested?

"Now Shepard, we are about to make you a deal, one that you have only two options." Hackett said. "The first is that your report will be altered to omit the presence of this individual and that you are sworn to secrecy, his presence is not to be known. Is that clear."

Shepard looked a little put off by this, were they trying to cover up this man's existence? Why, he had saved her.

"Yes sir," Shepard replied, not willing to risk her chance of freedom by speaking out of turn.

"Good, and for that you will be awarded for your brave action on Elysium for repelling a major enemy force and also saving countless lives as well as your team. The Star of Terra." Hackett stated.

Shepard felt her eyes widening, she was being awarded? No, that was not right; this was a bribe to keep her silence, so that she wouldn't rat out anything. But this was huge, there was not telling what she could do with this reward, it would set her up.

"Remember, that you are still obligated to remain silent in regards to Elysium, are we clear," Hackett warned, and was met with a response. "Good, you may see yourself out."

Shepard got to her feet and moved for the door, glad she was safe from possible reprisal. No, that wasn't the right word, she was ecstatic, she had gotten off virtually scot free and was going to be getting a medal for it. How could she be anything but happy about this?

She was getting a second chance.

' _You're going to be alright._ '

Shepard froze for a moment, and remembered that moment where she was basically given a chance to survive and continue on with her life. And now that she had it what was she going to do? She had been awarded, but did she deserve it? Of course not.

Yet that was not what stopped her from walking out the door and ending this conversation and feeling like she had no other obligation than to take this golden goose and run. The reason she stopped was because she had no real reason to do anything anymore, she didn't want to go home, back to Wyoming. Back to that hellhole where her gang rules and did what they wanted without regard, where she was a simple grunt doing the hard work.

She was never treated right there, bad things always happened to her there, and in a way she joined up to stop that. Not to get away, but when she did go back she couldn't be pushed around again, kicked down, forced down, kept down.

' _It's okay; you are going to be alright. You don't have to be afraid anymore._ '

She didn't want to go back there, to live in that fear again.

"Admiral Hackett," Shepard asked, turning and looking at the older man, who raised a brow at the young woman that stood before him.

"Yes Corporal." Hackett inquired.

"I wish to remain in service," Shepard replied, and noted with only the barest hint of amusement that the three were surprised, but she did not show that she thought as such.

The three shared a quick glance with one another, they thought that she would have likely left the service and returned to the Tenth Street Reds and gone on with her life. But instead she wanted to remain here and continue her service.

"Can I ask why?" Hackett asked.

"Because I was saved down there, and I am not going back to who I was, I want to actually use this second chance for something better than what I had." Shepard replied, not needing to explain any further why she wanted to remain in service.

Shepard was tired of living in the life she had, and now that she had an actual future ahead of her, despite it being a lie. She would make sure that the lie wasn't lost, and to do that, she would fight to make sure she earned it. If that meant she needed to become someone different, than she would do that. She was not going to be a gang banger again; she was going to be an actual hero.

* * *

 _Three Hours Later_

"Has everything been suppressed?"

Hackett turned to the man as he entered the room; his uniform was an exact likeness to his own. It would be expected, both shared the same rank, Admirals, yet their assignments took them to different Fleets.

Ines Lindholm, the current Commander of the First Fleet and Head of the Alliance Navy, he was someone that held as much conviction as Hackett, only with greater years under his belt. One hundred, medical technology these days had gone a long way.

"Everything has been suppressed, although we can't expect the Terminus to be quiet, this will spread soon, so we need to be quick." Hackett replied, standing at a small table where six others stood in wait.

"And therein lies the problem, we have so little data, we got all we could from the helm-cams and the planetary local security but even then it is impossible to narrow down what did this." Ines replied, pulling up some displays that showed off the carnage, the recordings were mostly incomplete and corrupted.

Only a few had actual recordings, others were live broadcasts with no storage mediums that recorded anything useful. Basically they had almost little physical evidence to support the testimonies of hundreds of thousands of people on the planet what happened.

"Three thousand eight hundred, that is the estimates we are getting here, one man, a kid no less. Wiped out, an entire army." Ines said, looking at the other Admirals around the table with a grim frown. "What are we dealing with here?"

"No idea, whatever this thing is, it's powerful and damn near invincible." Hackett answered, the Seventh Fleet admiral pulled up a few stilled images to see the boy, almost matching perfectly to Shepard's description.

"It killed nearly four thousand slavers and pirates on that planet, we can't even get a correct number because not a single one of them was in one piece to get a proper head count." Kastanie Drescher said, looking as some of the reports on the deceased. "These people were torn apart, how could something that looks humans do something as if it was an animal?"

That was true; most of the bodies had been cut to ribbons. They couldn't even identify any form of blade capable of doing such a thing nor could they find any traces of metal of said weapon. All they could go on was the size and design they had been able to see from the footage.

"It is not human," Ines said, firmly and without an ounce of restraint as he made it clear this thing is never to be considered as such. "Humans can't do this, a human couldn't do this."

"But we can't deny that some kind of human entity, some random kid shows up and massacres an entire army of Pirates with nothing but swords, what does that say?" Castanet asked, she didn't need to raise her voice to convey the seriousness of this situation.

"That he is an experiment made by the Alliance I guess, but for once I have to ask, is it true?" Mariah Heighton inquired, crossing her arms and looking at the images of this kid cutting down a Krogan and then seemingly disappearing.

"We don't know, but based on the images we have here, it is faster, stronger and capable of superhuman and inhuman feats." Admiral Hackett replied, looking at the many images that played out before them all.

Of that there was no doubts, speed that defied anything short of a damn Starship Fighter, something that was virtually impossible. Have the strength allowing him to toss around gunships and APC's with ease, another thing that was beyond physically possible. Along with the ability to supposedly fly, unaided by any form of technology they could see.

But the real kicker was in a firefight.

"He was shrugging off bullets, even cannon fire, what the hell is this thing?" Urakov Denisovich asked, the Russian Admiral jabbed at the image while looking at the closest Admiral beside him.

It was true, heavy arms fire from tanks and soldiers did nothing to him, in fact he didn't even flinch when he was hit. He even took a carnage shot to the back of the head without even blinking before cutting the one who shot him in half.

"It can't be human, it definitely can't be human, augmentation has its limits, but this is simply impossible," Jaro Saban said, watching surveillance cameras that showed him seemingly teleporting around the battlefield and cutting apart dozens of people in seconds.

The video material was limited, but they got enough. Enough to see what this person was capable of, what he could do on the battlefield when he was pushed. That amount of push however, was far greater than anything they had ever seen before.

"Wait, pause there," Nitesh Singh ordered, before stepping forward and manipulating the terminal.

Moving in closer of the swordsman and watching the events play out slowly. Her eyes focusing on the faded images, it had been damaged when the Gunship crashed, but enough could be seen. As she passed it frame by frame she noticed it again.

"There, look at the sword."

They watched as the sword pulsed with a blue light and appeared to be surrounded by a powerful biotic field. He then slashed his sword forward and towards a Gunship, cutting it in half and even exploding on contact. Which was a shock, the ability to use Biotics to such a level, even channeling it through an object was impossible.

"Biotics?" Ines inquired, it was likely, biotic fields could do thing similar.

"No, there isn't any distortion to show that there was a dark energy formation along the blade, also there is no way something that small could generate a wave of biotic energy that could carve through a ship like that. Biotics are not that refined, even if the sword could focus it to a molecular level it still would not retain cohesion and form after being released." Nitesh said, looking over the images, before turning her head and watching as the man again, releasing another wave just as the first.

"We are dealing with something that defies anything we have come across, I have no doubt that this thing is not human," Jaro said, looking over the different images and he sighed. "But I am doubtful the rest of the Galaxy will be so believing."

"That is why we suppressed all information, we can't stop the flow but we can delay it, we need to figure this out quickly." Ines said. "We find out where this thing came from and we prove it is not one of ours."

"So what do we do?" Nitesh asked.

"Everything is classified, nothing is to be revealed on this guy, and all data is to be sealed and for our eyes only. We are to begin investigating who this man is, where comes from and exactly what he is." Hackett said, looking at everyone, his eyes locking with each and every one of them for a moment. "We need to find him and figure out what he wants and why he was on Elysium."

"Rules of engagement?" Urakov asked, everyone knew what he was asking, but they all needed to know if they should consider him a threat or not.

"I don't think I need to tell you," Hackett said, watching as the boy raised his sword and sent a wave of energy towards a Batarian troop transport, cutting it right in half and letting it fall towards the ground before exploding. "If he is found, try to bring him in peacefully, if not, let him leave and do not attempt to detain him."

Everyone agreed with the idea, after all they could not risk being attacked and engaged by this thing. If it could decimate an entire army singlehandedly than there was no telling how much damage it could do if they tried to fight it.

Worse, they had to deal with something much more unsettling, the Council catching wind of this would end in a disaster that could spell the doom of the Alliance. Best case scenario the Council puts them in the dog house for the rest of the millennium, worst case, War.

The Council did not like changes in the status quo; if they saw something like this they would immediately put pressure on the System Alliance. Forcing compliance and then making demands of them that would likely involve proving the existence of these beings and slandering the Alliance in turn. It would be a disaster; the Alliance could simply crumble if they got on the Council's bad side.

"Has the cover stories been made?" Ines asked.

"Yes, Jessica Shepard will be given the spotlight, and it may work in our favor since she has decided to remain on active duty." Hackett replied.

"Good, make sure to keep the spotlight on her, don't care if she doesn't like it, get her a nickname and make a few appearances, we need to keep the attention off Elysium for now and what did this." Ines ordered, they couldn't change what happened in Illyria but they could make a hero for people to concentrate on.

"What if he comes back? Like, in a more public setting?" Castanet inquired, looking at the First Fleet Admiral.

"We pray to god that doesn't happen," Ines said.

"Who knows, maybe this kid is God." Urakov replied, looking at the scowling face of the young teen.

They just hoped that nothing else turned up while they were fighting off these pirates.

* * *

 **Akuze**

Soft padded feet moved through the desolate streets of the small colony, finding not a single soul – be it living or dead – present. Even the one who walked through the streets was not among those who lived, only present to see if the dead had remained.

Her eyes roamed over the different buildings, finding them completely barren and devoid of any life. But there appeared to be no major damage, there did seem to be some signs of struggle, but nothing else. Something had happened to the souls here and it was her job to find them and relocate them back to the Soul Society, yet their bodies were not present.

Without a means for them to travel to the Soul Society from this world she was forced to collect them and relocate them through the Wakuseimon (Planet Crossing Gate). It was the only means to return to the Soul Society from another world. Leaving humans on spiritually undeveloped worlds is never a good idea, they usually get absorbed into it when the world continues it development.

"Where are they? Reports said they died, but none are here." She said, glancing around with a calm expression, until she felt something.

Her senses picking up a subtle sensation of movement beneath her feet, had she been human it would have been unnoticed. But she was more than that, she was a Shinigami.

"What is this?" She asked, and to answer her something shot up out of the ground to her right, ploughing through a small building.

She turned to see a large worm-like creature, long pincers and a tube shaped mouth. It let out a roar before lunging at the petite Shinigami, who looked on with disinterest. A second later she vanished from sight and onto another building, away from the creature and observing it for a moment.

"A Thrasher Maw, odd, the guys in the Twelfth did not cite this place as a nesting ground, unless they screwed up you shouldn't be here." She said, reaching for her Zanpakuto.

Another explosion of dirt erupted behind her, revealing a second Thrasher Maw, leering down at the Shinigami with hungry eyes.

"A second one, now I know someone is behind this," She said aloud, before she narrowed her eyes. "Wonder if it was him."

Then six more shot through the ground, appearing around her in a circular pattern, and then more came with it. She counted twenty in total, a nice round number, she did not find that coincidental, more like purposely placed.

"It would seem I would need to find out where you came from," She said aloud, drawing her sword and bathing it in a white glow. "Dance: Sode no Shirayuki."

* * *

 **Reviews:**

 **Freedom Guard** **,** **Leapinglemur** **,** **Sovereign X22** **,** **zrocker119** **,** **maxdelrio14** **,** **XxGodOfWar13xX** **,** **mpire** **,** **reader1010** **,** **Altar312** **,** **Krazyfanfiction1** **,** **Cade Mistral** **,** **Six Samurai of Dragon Order** **,** **HijiriKishi** **, Rake1810, Guest #1, Guest #2, AbigailFetchWalker-NeonReaper, Zealswordmen, GeneralStargate. I would like to thank you all for your praise.**

 **Impstar** **: Yes, I made one for the Compendium, which is what this is based off, this one is much more refined than that one. This is a take on an actual story rather than a concept idea.**

 **Jmspikey** **: Yeah, Anime characters play by different rules and are often considered to be simply gods in their own rights. And technically that is what Shinigami are, gods.**

 **Jack the Stalker** **: I cannot wait for that moment either, I can say what happens in this story will surprise you.**

 **Nargus** **: I decided to change Shepard from that overly used great character and instead make her more of a hero that she wasn't meant to be. It is different, basically she is not someone who was going to be the Lion of Elysium, and she was just going to be a grunt that never wanted to be part of the military.**

 **Blindluck92** **: That it does, reminds me when I first read your story. That is true, this chapter conveys that lie, and Shepard took it up but wanted to actually do something with it to improve her standing and positon.**

 **Beta-Reader** **: I think the last scene says it all.**

 **Harbringer of Kaos** **: I will remember that, and see what I can do.**

 **KINGREADER** **: I will try, but I never really get to do romances and I would like to test my skills at it.**

 **JJN37** **: I will include small snippets that allude to the Shinigami and their goals, but really it is about the Mass Effect universe and the effect of the beings appearing and what changes as a result. I can tell you it will be cool.**

 **LINK TO YOU** **: Very true, they will be fighting for the title.**

 **LL** **: Yeah, in the next chapter I will actually be exploring the events of the Akuze Mission and some events that happened there.**

 **Struggle is Real** **: Yeah, we often get stories where we focus on the big good guy, but what about the weaker good guys? What about them and their point of view on the situations? That doesn't seem fair, so I thought, why not show the world through the eyes of the mortals. And here it is.**

 **The Civilians that survived were not taken prisoner, they were freed by Ichigo and left in the city after he cleared out the Pirates. Shepard was among the few soldiers that survived. Also thank you for the praise.**

 **There we are, thank you all and it has been great.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello everyone, sorry for the delay in anything as of late, been busy with a few things and this chapter was a little tricky to get out and there were a lot of reviews. But I have it all done and here it is. Hope you are ready for some cool stuff, because I added something special at the end, a little snippet you might like.**

* * *

 **Are We Alone?**

 **Chapter 03: Mortals Play at God**

 **Akuze**

The shuttle swung hard over the broken colony, the side panel opening and allowing the squad inside a fill view of the colony they were descending into. But as they opened it they could see that it was not to a scene they expected to find.

"What the hell?" Gerald Warwick murmured aloud, a look of disbelief on his face that was shared by the twenty other Marines in his squad.

The Colony of Akuze had gone dark nearly three days ago and only now had they been able to get someone down to investigate what had happened. It could have been some random power outage, it could have been a pirate raid, and they were very common in this region of Alliance Space. But what they found simply did not make sense at all.

"Are those… Thrasher Maws?" Corporal Toombs asked, looking at the large frozen space worms that were all around the colony, flash frozen in different position all around the small township.

"Looks like it," Private Lempel replied, while the rest of the squad remained speechless at the scene before them.

Gerald knew for a fact that this was no damn ice sculpture of some of the most fearsome aliens in the galaxy, these were the real deal. He could see the slowly thawing head of one Thrasher Maw beneath the rest of its long body. Frozen blood and meat could be seen where the head had been cleanly sliced off. They were damn real, and something had done that to them.

"Alright, get down there and find any survivors!" Gerald ordered, jumping out of the shuttle and hitting the ground with a heavy thud, the gravity chute in his suite slowing his fall.

He raised his rifle and moved forward, his squad descending behind him and quickly following after their Commander. They surveyed the area quickly, creating a small perimeter while the rest of the squad dropped down, before they all advanced forward. They formed four columns and trained their weapons in every single direction, looking out for survivors and potentially more hostiles.

As they moved down the street Gerald called for a stop, he looked ahead and also felt with his feet, trying to feel if there were any vibrations. It would likely do little good but it was better than nothing.

"Squad two and three, search the buildings on either side, find any survivors," Gerald ordered. "Squad one, with me!"

Two groups of seven marines split off from the main group and began searching the nearest buildings, leaving Gerald and his team of six marines to scout out ahead. For the next hour they searched every building and structure they could to find, every crevice and crack they looked in, but not a single thing was found.

But they did notice something off, the entire town may have been raised and turned into a damn ice rink, but there was no signs within or around of a panic of an attack. No bodies were the first clue, there were no human corpses anywhere and there weren't even signs that anyone had been on the move. Footprints showed that there was little activity outside in the last few days. Not even any disturbance within some of the buildings showed that there was chaos. Something was not right about this, it all screamed wrong to the Commander.

As he looked around from the main square of the colony, he could see his men were still searching around the area. Their formations been broken to see about quickening the search, but still nothing had been found.

"You find anything?" Gerard asked his second in command; Lieutenant Denyse moved up and showed him their findings, which was squat.

"Nothing much sir, no bodies or any survivors, they're all gone." Denyse replied. "It's like they disappeared, and the weirdest part, before these things got here."

"Not for a moment do I think this is right, a colony disappears and now we have twenty frozen Thrasher Maws right in the middle of it, this ain't right." Gerald said, looking around, a strange feeling that this was a potential trap.

"You think they escaped, knew they were coming?" Denyse inquired, it was possible.

"No, if there is this many Thrasher Maws here the Alliance would never have set up a colony, and there is no way they could have known," Gerald replied, the Thrasher Maws were well known to be a danger in colonization, so there was extensive testing and surveys to ensure that there were no Thrasher Maws on a planet.

So that leaves the question, why they were here and where the Colonists disappeared to?

"Sir!"

Both the Commander and Lieutenant turned to see Corporeal Toombs moving their way, running in a light jog before he came an abrupt halt before the two senior officers.

"What is it Private?" Gerald inquired.

"We found something, more than that sir, come on, it's this way." Toombs replied, leading his seniors off towards the edge of the colony. "Sergeant Fernandez found it; he says that they have these surveillance pieces all over the Colony."

"Surveillance? Are you saying someone is watching right now?" Gerald hissed, raising his rifle and looking around.

"Yeah, but he says he has tracked the signal, says it is about one and a half clicks outside of the Colony near the edge of some ravine." Toombs replied.

As he led him to the man he found the Sergeant was picking apart a communication buoy, one of the smaller ones used for communication in a colony. He was pulling it apart expertly and had several pieces on one side with the majority of the inner workings of the device on the other.

"Commander, found a few transmitters in here, it looks like an receiver, and it seems to be connected to a lot of surveillance bugs around here, and I mean a lot." Fernandez said.

"You have a position on where this is being transmitted?" Gerald inquired, and received a nod. "Good, get the men together; we are going to find out what the hell is going on right now,"

Within the hour they had reached the site, finding a small outpost set up near the edge of the ravine, it was a small camp with a single cubicle structure and a receiver array. Yet this one was much larger and appeared to be designed for planetary transmissions rather than interplanetary ones.

But the real surprise is that they found signs of someone beating them to the punch, quite literally it would seem. The door of the building block had been ripped off, and it was a damn secure internal locking door. Close to three hundred pounds of steel that had been ripped from the reinforced pistons within the wall and thrown away.

They could even see an impact point where something had struck it, oddly shaped, almost like a small human fist. But when they got inside they found out the real slaughter, four people dead, three appeared to be civilians while the forth was a soldier in light armor. Not that it did him any good; his head was resting a few feet away from his body.

"What the hell did this?" One marine asked, raising his rifle and looking for the possible perpetrator.

"Look, the wounds have signs of frostbite; you think what did those Thrasher Maws in did this?" Denyse said, finding that the wounds and surrounding flesh to be frozen and brittle, some of it even cracking and breaking apart.

"No idea, see who these guys are and what is on those terminals," Gerald ordered, looking over to the damaged terminals, frozen and seemingly cut apart.

"Damn, the terminals are shot, along with the servers, something froze these things and shattered them," Fernandez said, touching a server stand that crumbled to his touch, falling to the ground and shattering. "Shit, that's not possible; this stuff shouldn't break unless it is below eighty degrees Celsius."

"Well I found out who one of these three are, Doctor Timothy Wayne, Alliance Science Bureau, degrees in Molecular Biology, Neurobiology and multiple degrees in Zoology, ." One Marine said. "This guy is a damn Alliance Navy assigned egghead, what the hell is he doing out here?"

Gerald did not like this, every about this smelled wrong, and he wanted to know what the hell was going on here. A colony goes missing and a Thrasher Maw pack attacks at random, and then you have a guy that is basically skilled in Zoology and likely had studied Thrasher Maws before. That coupled with the fact that they were watching the town, which smelled all kinds of trouble for them.

"Got something!" Fernandez said, tapping away at his Omni-Tool. "A backup server, it's intact and seems to be running. Huh?"

"What is it?" Gerald barked, he did not like what had happened here, he did not want something else to go wrong while his team was nearby.

"I am getting a data stream, seems that it is transmitting the data somewhere," Fernandez said.

"Where?" Gerald asked.

"No idea, but I can still pull the drives, maybe we can find out what was on them," Fernandez said, moving over and pulling back an access panel and finding the mounted server. "Alright, let us see what you have on you."

He tapped his Omni-Tool a few times, and he looked at the screen as he scanned the drives.

"Damn, most of the data is gone, it must have erased itself during transfer." Fernandez said.  
"But it seems to have something left; I might be able to bring some data back if I have time with it."

"Get the data later, get all the drives, we are done here." Gerald said, tapping his finger to his ear. "SSV Arkansas, this is ground team, we need immediate pick up at these coordinates."

 **Two Hours later**

"Is the data ready?" Gerard inquired, he stood beside Captain Tobias Hendricks and his Lieutenant Denyse; they were waiting on that data.

After what had been seen below the Captain wanted all he could know about what happened down there, he was not going to risk anything. After seeing that one of the Alliance best minds was down on that planet with half his guts on the floor he wanted to make sure he found out why he was there before that happened.

Call him suspicious, but Gerald did not doubt that he had to be considering the circumstances.

"Yeah, just converting it now," Fernandez replied, tapping a few keys on his Omni-Tool. "And… Done!"

Immediately the screen ahead of them flickered to life, several files and information appeared. Most of it was scattered and broken, also some showing signs of damage and incomplete, but there were only a few things that were still fully complete and not fragmented.

"It seems that some of the information is missing, we still got what wasn't sent off world, but I do not know if I can get anymore back," Fernandez said, reading over the drives status.

"Are you sure you can't get anymore?" Tobias asked.

"I can try, but I think we have some surveillance images here, looks like that was being send over first." Fernandez replied, pushing a button and playing whatever image they could.

The file was corrupted sadly but they could make out the image enough to understand what was being seen. A few keystrokes here and there and they were lucky to be able to retrieve some of the data still present in the cache. Within a few minutes they saw the images, and they felt their hearts stop and their eyes widened.

Images that were so shocking and unbelievable that they did not once bring themselves to say they understood what they were witnessing. Images, video recordings, scratchy audio, all these things were there. Incomplete but there.

"What the hell is this?"

* * *

 **Arcturus Station, Three Days Later**

Admiral Hackett was far from pleased, so far from it that one could easily see the very irritated expression on his always stoic face. The reason was simple, reports had come in of Akuze and the situation and it was causing problems for the politicians. Luckily he had been able to divert the reason towards something else, but political bullshit was only less annoying when there was less of it being thrown at you.

So they gave the politicians something much less damaging.

Some random Black Ops group had decided that it would be fun to unleash a group of Thrasher Maws onto a human colony.

Yet the real kicker was the fact that they did it to test the response of an Alliance Patrol as they moved through the area. The reasons were a mystery but it showed that the Alliance had an unknown faction inside their ranks that were actively using their own people as test subjects. Because of that the Council had gotten wind of it, along with a few other key details, details that had him wondering who had given them to those three.

"Do you have any idea what this has done to us?" Ambassador Udina said over the communicator.

"I assume that when the Council got wind of this they got scared." Hackett replied, his stony voice showing little care if the question was answered or not.

"They did, after all last time humans showed active aggression towards them they did not like it," Udina replied. "They are worried about some unknown rogue group of madmen that are willing to murder their own race to advance the rest of humanity."

Cerberus, that is who they were, but they were not willing to risk these channels being monitored; they had no idea about them until three days ago. Little was known about the group aside from the fact they seemed to be a human supremacy group that is trying to ensure human dominance in the Galaxy.

The only real info they have on them was of some failed attempt to steal anti-matter from the SSV Geneva while it was in dry-dock. When the thieves were killed the sole survivors said that his people were of Cerberus, trying to use the stunt as a means to bolster their ranks. Not much had been heard of them in the last seven years; it was considered just a passing incident.

But it would seem that they have gotten larger in those seven years. And influential if they had three top tier scientists working for them, and all that tech under their belt.

"Any idea how these Scientists became affiliated with this group?" Hackett asked.

"You're asking me?" Udina replied, his sarcasm easily heard despite the patchy line they were on.

"I would have thought with your connections you could do something, after all the Council seems to know enough yet we don't." Hackett replied.

"Not possible I am afraid, the Council is being tight lipped with this and my own people have nothing," Udina replied. "You would not believe how much issue they are taking over this, they are even planning on holding your plans back regarding Torfan to try and press you for more information."

"The Torfan Campaign needs to happen, if we can shatter that moon we can end all piracy on the borders of Alliance space for good, we will finally be able to protect our colonies." Hackett said, not liking the news.

The Council had been pushing real hard in regards to the Torfan campaign; apparently they were concerned about the potential dangers of engaging against pirates within the Terminus Systems. Thinking that it may lead to open war, while the Ambassador had been fighting to get them the leave to do it they had been hit with some setbacks.

"How long could this delay us?" Hackett asked.

"Two months, maybe four if Sparatus gets his way," Udina replied. "They are getting a little suspicious of us now, they are concerned about the events of Akuze with this rogue human group, but also they seem to be asking questions about Elysium."

Hackett did not like that, questions about that planet were not something he could or willingly answer, if word of what transpired there got out into the Galaxy there would be a panic. Mainly from the Council races, the thought of something human appearing on Elysium and murdered over three thousand pirates singlehandedly did not exactly sit well.

That incident happened thirteen months ago, it was long and far behind them that they did not have to worry about it. But scattered traffic from the Terminus had been picked up, it would seem the instigator behind the Blitz was raving about the one that had destroyed his entire army. A boy in black rags and carrying two swords, who used those same swords to murder all his men. They laughed at him for certain, but you only need a few to believe for it to spread.

Apparently the Council may be among those believers and despite everything they were the worst kind of people he wanted to believe the ravings of that madman.

"What do you mean?" Hackett asked.

"They say they are hearing some interesting rumors of that planet, something along the lines of a massacre, and a monster." Udina replied, not sounding to certain about the words he was saying, but he was curious.

"You mean the Lion?" Hackett asked, referring to his scapegoat, recently promoted Lieutenant Shepard.

"No, I am referring to some unknown individual that somehow defeated an entire army with a butchers blades and a knife." Udina replied, his voice dripping with annoyance.

"Can't help you there." Hackett replied, his voice nothing but neutral.

He could hear Udina grumbling incoherently over the line.

"Regardless they want answers, I expect you to find out about these people as soon as possible, the Council want information." Udina replied, before he cut off the communications.

Hackett leaned back into his chair and rubbed his temple, he could not handle this right now, not when he was already suppressing more information on Akuze than they had. The painful fact that he had to find information on these rogues was bad enough but the problem was that he also had to hide information about the one that had killed them.

"Can't believe we have another one," Hackett said aloud, not believing for a moment that they had come across an entity that was similar to the one that had been on Elysium.

He tapped a few commands into his keypad, sealing the external network and also creating a small field in his office. After the events of Elysium he had deemed it necessary to beef up security around the station, and his office in particular.

"Play audio log," Hackett said.

 _"Get all data together and send it off now!" Someone yelled, the audio feed identifying it as Doctor Wayne. "We need to report this immediately to the Project Head."_

 _"What the hell is going on in there, where did that thing come from?" Another cried, Doctor Victor Tremont, a well-known geneticist and trauma specialist, he even had training in treating acid burns._

 _"Who knows, doesn't matter, the project is scrapped, get all data off site and erase everything, we are…" A loud bang was heard, before the slow tearing of metal could be heard. "What? Shit the door!"_

 _"Get back!" A man yelled, the sound of a rifle unfolding could be heard, along with stressing metal, likely the door being ripped off its hinges. "Is that…"_

 _The sound of a hissing slash was heard before something collided with the ground, likely the body. Screams were heard after that, along with more hissing swings of what could be identified as a sword._

 _"Wait, no!" Another slash accompanied by one more, two thuds were heard and then light footsteps._

 _"Who are you? What is the meaning of this?" A feminine voice demanded, deep and strong, yet appearing to be very young._

 _"Please, don't kill me!" Wayne begged, the audio began to break apart here, degrading; it was near here that the audio file had been transmitted, and they had lost segments of it._

 _"Tell me what this is, where are the humans? Why are they not here? And why are there Thresher Maws on this world?" She demanded, a loud bang was heard as her sword likely slashed at something, the audio began to static and degrade from here, likely because of her action._

 _"We… under order to… would happen if… they attacked a Marine Patrol, we are…" The static was becoming heavier as the recording began to fall out, it was too bad as well, it would have been a much better clue as to what was going on there._

 _"I don't care for these experiments, where did you put the humans?" She demanded._

 _"Their dead, they… buried in a mass… from here…"_

 _"Thank you, now I can promise you, where you go now, is far from pleasant." The sound of a hiss and a body hitting the ground was heard; the sound of more static accompanied the recording before it finally cut out._

The best part however was the video surveillance and also sensors on the area to determine what happened. Sadly most of that data was gone, only snippets could be found and located, it would seem that the servers had sent most off-world. That meant the people that had been killed had been planning to send it off world and then run.

"Tyresa," Hackett said, and soon his personal VI popped up on his screen. "Show me the data pertaining to subject: Snow Angel."

He looked over the reports he could see what had occurred in the seven minute fight between the entity and the Thrasher Maws. He watched what video he could of the battle, it was incredible to say the least. The girl seemed to be able to glide on air and even move at supersonic speeds, even possessing strength that was well beyond her frame. The girl looked to be a teenager, barely fifteen or fourteen at most, yet she was killing some of the most dangerous creatures in the galaxy like they were not as they were claimed to be.

Yet despite the swordplay and the breaches of the natural laws of physics, she seemed to possess a strange ability that explained the state of the colony when found. It would seem that the girl had the ability to lower the ambient temperature around her to impossible levels. Absolute Zero, that was the most shocking, the girl had the ability to naturally lower the temperature of herself and that around her to the lowest possible temperature that can be.

Humans with technology today could not achieve the same results, not even close, yet this girl had done so without issue and was able to perform it so quickly that she was able to freeze the entire colony within a few minutes of fighting.

"Have the others been made aware of this report, Tyresa?" Hackett asked.

"The others have been informed and all data has been transmitted over secure frequencies, no responses have been logged sir." The VI replied.

Hackett nodded his head before he waved the VI to shut down; he had a lot to deal with now. With the appearance of these entities and now an unknown rogue party having knowledge of one of them, and the upcoming battle of Torfan, he had a lot to do. He wished that they had not come along, it would have probably been better, but it also could have been a lot worse.

* * *

 **Unknown Location**

"It is incredible, simply incredible," Taking a drag of his cigarette; looking at the readouts and recordings he had been given. "Tell me, is this the one that was reported to have appeared on Elysium?"

He glanced to the right to see one of his more skilled operatives; she walked forward and examined the image for a moment, her smile in place. She was a little surprised herself as she watched the recordings of the girl, hacking through the Thrasher Maws with ease. But it was a shock to see her boss seem so lively and energetic, as soon as this came in he appeared to have reclaimed some of his youth and was almost bouncing across the room with untapped energy.

It was surprising.

"No, Subject Zero is male and said to have had two weapons, this one is younger and also female." Miranda stated. "But this one seems much more potent, the ability to manipulate temperature and snow."

He did not doubt that, the one on Elysium based on rumors was said to be a butcher, hacking and slashing the pirates to pieces. But this one seemed to possess some form of ability that allowed for the manipulation of temperature. He could see it in the recordings and the readouts on the colony, even the implants within the Thrasher Maws showed that they froze within seconds of contact, almost instantly they had been frozen.

"This is something I have been looking for, a means to advance humans to levels beyond comprehension." The Illusive man said. "But I wish to know how it is possible that they can do what I feel is more fiction, than fact."

"Sir, based on our scans and what we could pick up there was nothing there, we did not pick up a single molecule in the vicinity of that girl or even the ice she employed. In fact, it was as if she was not even there, completely void of matter and presence." Miranda replied.

She had been given access to every scrap of information on these entities, and learned very little in regards to what they were. At first the rumors on Elysium had been just that, baseless rumors, ones that Miranda had no thoughts of dismissing, but seeing this changed that.

She had never seen anything like this before, it was shocking to say the least that a human girl could possess such power and skill. Her strength was easily greater than that of a Krogan, her speed is said to be five times the speed of sound. Speeds like that would flay a normal human alive, yet she performed the feat eighteen times in a third as many minutes and suffered no visible damage.

Having enough strength that a single punch possessed enough force to indent a three inch steel door and then rip it out of the wall. For someone of her stature and physical size to do something like that is impossible, yet she did so.

"They are interesting, I want to see about apprehending one, and if not, collecting samples." The Illusive Man said, and that made Miranda a little nervous.

"That may be a little out of our league sir, these two beings have shown to be able to take on armies, we don't have the resources or man power to counter something like them. Or know if it is even possible to do so." Miranda replied, she did not think that anything they could have on hand could actually fight against a force as powerful as that.

The girl alone was a danger that they likely would be unable to defeat, even if they contained her, the abilities she possessed would be impossible to restrain. If she could control the temperature no matter the restrains and location she was placed in she would be able to escape simply by freezing her cell and shattering it. They did not even know if Biotics would have an effect or not, as nothing along those lines have been shown. But it would seem from the rumors on Elysium that the target there had been resistant to them.

"Then we look for a means," The Illusive Man replied, taking a drag of his cigarette as he rose from his chair. "If we cannot locate their presence on our scanners it means they are masking it somehow, or that we simply do not know what we are scanning for, did they pick up anything of note? Anything at all?"

"In case you were going to ask I did inquire on that, and they say that while they couldn't detect anything they did say something was there." Miranda replied. "They cannot identify it because technically it doesn't exist; while the girl is made up of solid matter it seems to expel copious amounts of energy."

She showed the sensor readouts from the town, apparently there were very large amounts of black spots along the readings showing that technically there was nothing in certain areas of the vicinity. They did not pick up any form of energy or matter in these points, but it did signal that the space may be empty of matter but something was moving the detectable matter present. Meaning that while there was something there, their sensors had not been calibrated to actually detect whatever they were made up of.

"I suspect a sample was not recovered," The Illusive Man inquired.

"No, with Wayne and his team dead there was no one to collect anything, also with the Alliance presence on the planet heightened it is impossible for us to send anyone down there." Miranda replied.

"What about the Alliance, have they done anything, if they have acquired our drives and some of our data they would collect this would they not?" The Illusive Man inquired.

"We have not seen anything sir, there have been no reports at all pertaining to these entities, and neither on Elysium. It would seem that they are keeping this close to the chest, so close that even we cannot find anything." Miranda replied.

The Illusive Man was not pleased with that, this was something he wanted to get his hands on. The last two decades of his life have been spent getting Cerberus and Humanity ready for its ascension to a higher order in the galaxy. Despite setbacks and the Alliance trying to save face and licking the boots of the Council they were on their way to that position.

Support for Cerberus has grown and they are beginning to truly become a force for Humanity, but they still were behind in many ways. They did not possess a suitable army and fighting force to truly show their might to deal with other forces that threaten them. But it was more than that; they needed to overcome the weaknesses humans have over their supposed 'allies'.

Biotics being one of the key factors in this, this ability to manipulate mass and energy has always been a huge advantage to the other races of the Galaxy. One advantage he facilitated and stepped up to use as a means to give humanity this advantage. And he went further than them by making the ultimate Biotics, creating them greater and more powerful despite the risks and dangers. Many programs had been set up to expand this, Project Phoenix, Project Pinnacle, and Project Gear.

They were just some, of the many projects and initiatives he had invested in to ensure the ascendency of the entirety of humanity.

Every action he had performed in the last twenty years has been for the betterment and rise of humanity to the dangers of the galaxy. To make them ready for whatever may come their way, no matter the danger or threat he would make sure humanity was prepared.

'And these beings here would be the key to it all,'

Not only could they be the army he needed to show the rest of the galaxy the dominance of the human race to the other species. But they would be their protectors and saviors, ensuring that nothing would endanger the rule of humanity on the galactic scene. The Council would not have any authority or power over them; they would be above them all.

This young girl had done what no one could do, not a single person could do what she did. If he had an army of them, the entire galaxy would be controlled by the one who led them. Humanity would rule supreme, not as the most influential in the galaxy, but as the strongest and most powerful force that has ever existed in the Milky Way.

"Begin making plans on examining that energy, and I want all our contacts in the Alliance to keep their eyes out for these two." The Illusive Man replied. "And also, for any others that appear."

"Others, sir?" Miranda asked.

"Is it not obvious?" He said. "There must be more, has to be more, and I want to know when they appear."

He turned back to the images, letting them play over and over again. He watched the raven haired girl decapitate a Thrasher Maw with a single swing of her sword. Despite the impossibility of such a feat with a smaller weapon it was performed, the readouts showing that she actually extended the force of her blow along the blade to make it actually cut the air ahead of her.

"I will be ready for when they do."

One can destroy an army.

A dozen can conquer an entire system.

A hundred could conquer the galaxy.

This is humanities chance, and they would be the key to bringing humanity to its pinnacle.

* * *

 **Arcturus Station, Three Months Later**

Admiral Hackett looked over the recent reports from the advance Fleet near the borders; it would seem that something was happening down on the surface of Torfan. They were sketchy but it would seem that there had been a lot of fleet activity around the moon, pirate mostly. Yet there were signs of marked ships bearing the governmental mark of the Homogony. Despite everything the bastards were still doing this.

He had been getting reports of Batarian Homogony ships had been spotted and identified in orbit of Torfan. Over the last six months it would seem that these ships have been moving in on the planet, the reasons have been unknown but they were suspicions.

The System Alliance has long suspected that the Homogony has been supporting piracy and slavery along the borders and even helped support the raid and assault on Elysium. While proof of military hardware and weapons had been found, military issue and designed specifically from the Hogomony, along with the identified remains of several military officers known to been affiliated with the military were also present.

The Council had been called in to act as a mediator and put a stop to the issue before a potential open conflict was to occur. The Council as always tried to sort things out without resorting to a militaristic solution and tried to broker a peace. Sadly the people they were trying to make submit to words preferred force over niceties.

Hackett has actually decided to put this down himself, actually going to the Citadel to act as the accuser in this debate. He argued that the Homogony was actively aiding pirate groups in raiding System Alliance colonies and even aiding the pirates they were attempting to repel.

Of course the Homogony went to the obvious excuse, stating that they were rogue elements within their government and that they could not be held accountable for this. Something that the Council agreed upon and while they demanded that the Homogony see to that these rogues are brought to justice nothing else was performed.

Funny when humanity said the same thing about Cerberus they got flagged for it and have been on the shit list. Even when he brought it up the Council evaded the statement saying that Cerberus is a human supremacy group looking to advance humanity, while the rogue elements of the Homogony were aiding in piracy and slavery. Both were not in the same league with one another and that the latter one no longer had support and allies within the government.

"Complete bullshit," Hackett muttered.

While both are near the same the former is still aligned with their government and has active members still within the Alliance, a poor excuse. The Homogony is lying through their teeth and they buy it, not because they believe them but because they do not want to cause tension and aggravate them. Piss poor excuse as well as cowardly.

But one he did not call up on it, he gets into a fight with the Council they would go at him for his disrespect and that would mean he have to deal with fallout and likely another delay in the Torfan assault.

It had already been delayed six months because of the Councils aggravation regarding Elysium, the events there from over a year and a half ago had not cleared up and they were far from pleased with the outcome. They were concerned and found the fact that the pirates had suffered nearly one hundred percent casualties against a force under a hundred strong. Suspicious, he did not doubt that.

Hackett did not argue with them, saying that his people fought hard and they lost many lives that day, he would not spit on their memory by being told them dying seems to convenient. While the issue was dropped they Council discreetly continued to pry, and that worried him.

"If they discover what happened there it will be hell to pay." Hackett said to himself, hopefully the rest of the Admirals have been keeping them busy.

Because he had to focus on something more pressing, the conflict that would turn into a slaughter.

He sighed as he rose from his seat and made his way to the door, he had to get to the Kilimanjaro and prepare for the departure. They would but hitting that moon in a week, the Fleet had already been mobilized and he was to be leading them there. It would be a hard fight and there would be heavy casualties, he did not like the fact that this would never have occurred had the Council not stopped them when they did.

'We are going to lose thousands of lives because of this,' Hackett thought, all because they did not like the chance of the Terminus attacking.

The Terminus was already attacking, it was just that they were doing it so minutely that the Council could easily pass it off as random raids from pirates. This needed to be done to make them understand there were consequences, that there were lines that were not meant to be crossed. He intended to show these pirates and the Batarians just that.

* * *

 **SSV Dreadnaught Kilimanjaro, three days later**

"This is the situation on the surface, sensor drones have shown that the pirates and Batarians have set up fortified bunkers on the surface of the planet." Hackett said, around him stood most of his command staff, ranging from officers and the bridge grew that would be coordinating the assault.

An image appeared showing the layout of the ground, showing off the main base where the Batarians had built their newest fortress.

Torfan has always been a staging ground for every raid into Citadel and Alliance space over the last decade and a half. The moon had deep mines and tunnels beneath the surface where they would hide and plan out their next move. Because of its close proximity to the borders of the Terminus none have dared trying to assault it.

Save for now.

But sadly the enemy had fortified it quite heavily, no longer was it simple dug out and abandoned mines.

"The Batarians have so kindly handed these pirates all kinds of weapons and defenses." Hackett continued. "Fortified concrete bunkers line the top of the mines entrances and have even been fortified within as well. As well as Anti-Air turrets, that have been placed in the area and covering almost a three mile radius around the bunkers, which means that we cannot drop down anyone until we take out those guns."

"What about an attack from a distance sir, drop the heavies in from afar and have them role in." Officer Long inquired.

"No, the terrain is unsuitable for it, too thick with vegetation and not enough for anything we have to get through; only the area around the bunkers can be placed." Hackett replied. "We will need to send in a strike team to secure the western quadrant of the area and take down one of those guns, with that we can start bringing in people."

"How bad are the outer defenses?" Hannibal Brinsley asked, he would be the commander of the Battalion that would be fighting through that mess down there.

"Rough, while there is suitable cover among the treeline, between that and the rocky region where the mines are located is very flat and open. Very little cover saves for the trenches and foxholes the Batarians have dug out." Hackett replied. "Taking this point will be critical; if you fail we will not be able to send in reinforcements."

The region between the forested area and the outer defenses were very open and left little to no means of cover. The soldiers would be completely defenseless against a superior positon and no other means to advance. Worse yet without any heavy support they would be forced to use much more dangerous means to enter the area.

"Worst part about the drop is that they have vehicles and heavy weapon stations in the terrain between the outer defenses and the bunkers." Hackett said. "You are going to have to fight your way across this jagged ground and take position after position. But once you reach some of the outer lying bunkers you should be able to breach the tunnels and work your way in deeper."

It was a simple yet highly dangerous plan; failure meant the deaths of over a thousand marines. They needed to assault the base quickly and precisely otherwise their position would be swarmed by heavy armor and more troops.

"But we don't know what you may encounter inside, but we suspect it may lead to one of the AA-Guns. If you can blow out the north western AA-Gun you should be able to land in heavy support and get you the reinforcement you need to take the entire facility." Hackett continued.

"Let's hope so sir," Colonel Brinsley replied.

* * *

 **Torfan Surface**

"You smell that?"

He looked over the field, it was torn up and wrecked, but he could see the many aliens getting ready for battle. A smirked played at his lips at the response he was given.

"Yeah, it is real damn here, and it smells like poop,"

The girl hanging over his shoulder put her fingers to her nose and sealed it off, obviously disgusted.

"That's right, just like the Rukongai," He replied, it would be happening soon.

"Are we gonna be fighting soon?" She asked.

"Yeah, we are gonna be fighting real soon." His smirked grew into a toothy grin, before he lifted himself up and walked forward.

"That's great Kenny!"

* * *

 **Reviews:**

 **Special Thanks: Terror of Death Skieth, Sygiko, Bravo13, Rythik74, tsukiyomi83, Guest #1, Kaldi97, Thorndsword, Cf96, XiaoWing, Guest #2, Guest #3, Necagelion, reader1010, JJN37, Krazyfanfiction1, Six samurai of dragon order, Two Evil Carrots, Reality Deviant, Lord Asmodeus, Ghost024, Rakaan, Guest #4, Kim, Thespian26, Lotheon, vladimir1996, BrawlBroMario, Guest #5, Necr0m4ncer13, MattKennedy, Tiggz, Webb360, Jake Wolf,**

 **Fraiku: Yeah, I decided to go and make this. It has potential, even more than I expected. I can promise you that it will be interesting and cool to see what happens as the story develops trust me.**

 **MEleeSmasher: There will be a time when the Shinigami reveal themselves as they will have no choice, but I have a cool idea about the Alliance heads meeting a particular bunch of Captains. It will be funny, there will be LoLs.**

 **Vindicare241: Yeah, I decided to expand and give more detail as the Compendium is just a bunch of random scenes, but I intend to expand on it much more as it goes along.**

 **They may have his features but it will be hard to find him because they usually do not search for people from a long time ago and since the Second Civil War in America much information was lost and changed and therefore he is basically a ghost. This all takes place after the Blood War, Quincy are gone and Fullbringer exist still, but not many. Also the other races have Soul development but it is that humans are unique because their souls were altered in a capacity by the Soul King and the Cycle of Reincarnation. Their Binding Chain is actually artificially implanted upon a soul.**

 **Highfist: I have come to realize that while Ichigo does not often kill he does not allow it to get in the way of doing things.**

 **Zealswordsmen: I could potentially have that happen. If he is still alive anyway.**

 **Tormound: Spiritual Pressure when not controlled to a precise point is lethal to all around you, the city is not abandoned, and there are people still within it. Also doing so would shatter the entire surroundings and cause buildings to actually collapse. Ichigo wouldn't want to cause unneeded casualties among the civilians, he came to save them, not kill them along the way.**

 **Mangaheo18: Ichigo would have aged a bit, but not by far, I plan to reveal events leading to why he still appears mostly as he does.**

 **Accursius: The reason will be explained later on by the Shinigami. I promise you I will say why they can be seen.**

 **Ciupacapra: The Council will not be pleased, the Batarians will not be happy, the Terminus will be scared. Humans, soaking up the praise and sheer awesomeness they just proved they have real gods.**

 **Harbringer of Kaos: It is after the Blood War, and while Ichigo's friends will not appear, there will be Hollows of many varieties popping up time to time.**

 **Beta-Reader: I certainly will.**

 **LL: Trust me, I will make an entire snippet of the Council basically going ape ship after seeing what happened. It will be awesome, and funny on so many levels.**

 **Blindluck92: Check out the snipped below, it is for you man, you gave me that idea. HAHA.**

 **GeneralStargate: Trust me, when we get to Eden Prime everything changes there. Everything.**

 **Struggle is Real: I will look into making different afterlife's and maybe even different spirits for the different alien races.**

 **Rake1810: Sorry, but sometimes it is never like that, but next chapter will be all kinds of slaughter.**

 **NaoDarkness: There actually exists a spiritual realm in the whole universe, kind of like the Dangai actually. Planets actually develop spiritual planes from Souls that pass on and this forms a new afterlife, and then it becomes habitable for new spirits.**

 **Also the reason Ichigo can fight so well is that all Shinigami naturally have a passive barrier around them to negate damage and attacks. That is why Kenpachi actually can't be hurt, because he has a very dense and powerful barrier. But when bringing themselves into the material plane they need to consolidate that power and give themselves form, this takes concentration and a lot of power to do and actually does weaken them because it takes them out of their natural environment.**

 **Tami1q23: I can do a chapter like that, basically explaining why and how the Soul Society is dealing with those souls.**

 **Star: Interesting theory.**

 **Dp11: Defiantly.**

 **Bleach Effect: We shall see.**

 **Komamura: Humans are the only souls they are interested in, in fact it will be explained later that Earth and the Soul Society are very different compared to the spiritual realms of other homeworlds. If a Shinigami actually found a trapped Asari spirit he could not Kenso her, because the Zanpakuto is designed around the Binding Chain, I will explain more as the story progresses.**

 **ElizabethGreene-QueenOfViruses: They have their equivalent, but they are not called or considered Shinigami.**

 **Ressan: Damn straight, he is actually in hot water for that stunt.**

 **Hardoraku: Ichigo is basically as he always is, not god-like, but powerful and a god in the eyes of others. Also this is set After the Blood War, about one hundred and eighty years after it.**

 **Zentari2238: I am sorry, I wanted to do Naruto but that was too cliché or is it normal considering all works he is in have him as a cool badass. Anyway beside the point, Ichigo did what he always does, swing his sword hard and fast.**

 **Supreme Tempest: Because the Shinigami cannot exist on planets without spiritual formed atmospheres they are forced to actually manifest themselves fully into the physical world. Because the universe is actually like a massive Dangai, they fall into it they are trapped and basically disperse among it. It is pretty bad.**

 **Jigentou: Glad you like it, I do try my best with my story telling and I am glad that you like them along with my other stories.**

 **MasterShadowAssassin: Ichigo and Shepard will meet again, count on it.**

* * *

 **Also to Blindluck92, the inspiration to this snippet. I think you all will love it.**

"Our reasons and logic deny all comprehension, we are beyond your understanding and you cannot fathom the idea of our goals and the reasons we perform them," Harbringer stated, his image shown across the Citadel.

Many were panicking, running and huddling together and trying to find some form of safety. But the station had already been taken by the Reapers, their forces had already begun to invade and the defenders were hard pressed to hold them back.

Shepard looked at the civilians that had taken refuge in the Embassy, they were scared and desperate to be safe. She could even see some of them were praying for salvation, faith in those high above would come to protect them. Shepard turned and glared at the VI station, the image of the Reaper replacing the original image of Avinna.

"You murder trillions and think it is logic, what the hell is logic of destroying races like that?" Shepard demanded, looking at the holographic image.

"There is none sadly,"

Shepard turned looking at the sight of a man in a green duster coat and a bucket hat. But she could easily tell he was not human, aura around him was different and the sword in his hand was key. Many looked on in awe and were actually praying all the harder, tears of joy replacing ones of fear.

"We can't understand them because they are flawed," Urahara said, smirking slightly as he stood before the hologram of the Reaper. "You think you are using logic but you are governed by the logic of your creators, and that is beyond our comprehension when you were made by those as low and pitiful as our creators?"

"You are among the Extra-Dimensional Anomalies we have determined, your actions go against even your own laws and governance, and you claim to know better." Harbringer stated.

"I do, we are both the same in regards to what we want, stability." Kisuke said, turning and moving off and overlooking the Presidium, civilians fleeing in droves. "You seek to preserve the galaxy by preventing it from being destroyed by the rampant use of Dark Energy, and the eventual annihilation of the entire Milky Way.

"You are aware of this? Impossible," Harbringer stated.

"How so? It is not that hard to not understand, we are very much alike." Urahara said. "You seek to bring balance to the galaxy and ensure that it remains to continue to bring life and allow civilizations to flourish and grow. But you fall because you know that the more advance they become the more destruction they weave in their wake."

Urahara looked at the projection for only a moment longer before he began walking around, handing out the damnedest of things. Candy.

"Your masters were arrogant, they were too focused on their own means to consider anything else, that they built machines and servants to carry out the deed of ensuring that the small insects they lord over are preserved and flourish." Urahara said. "But you could not could you, not with these Gods that lord over them and force them to live by their rule, by their whip."

Harbringer did not speak or reply, instead continued to remain silent and still. Watching as the Shinigami give candy to people, even touching a few on the head and seemingly curing them of wounds and ailments.

"That is why you destroyed them, you destroyed them because they went against everything you were built for, they were oppressors and tyrants that went against the very logic they built you to achieve." Urahara continued. "I know this because I looked into your coding; I found what was designed and what makes you tick."

"Impossible," Harbringer replied.

"No, it is very easy," Urahara replied, bringing up a small projector that revealed hundred if not thousands of lines of passing code. "Once I was in it was simply to map your synthetic network and understand how your function. And I came to a simple conclusion, you are flawed."

Harbringer remained silent for a moment, processing his words before he made a quick reply.

"It is apparent you are not able to fully grasp our function and our role, you are not as we suspected you to be." Harbringer said. "Our role is to ensure the preservation of the organics who are destined to destroy themselves, as many others before them they will fall to their own hubris and bring about their own destruction. It is inevitable."

"Untrue, I know more about you that even you do now, you see you lack something that these organics have." Urahara replied, stopping momentarily before a small family, two parents and a little girl. "You are governed by this single order and belief, you have nothing else to give yourself to, to evolve and change. You are bound by the laws and obligations of your former masters, and because of that you have even become like them."

"There is no need for us to alter our parameters, we are perfection," Harbinger replied.

"You systematically harvest life to preserve their greatness at the pinnacle of their evolution simply because you do not wish for them to add further to the damage of Dark Energy, and since you cannot go against your directive you simply follow these orders over and over again." Urahara replied, seemingly angry at the previous statement. "Because of that you only harvest those that you feel have reached their zenith and have nothing more to achieve and decide to ascend them to a level greater than flesh and change them into what you are to continue your duty. Perfection is a simple concept, it cannot be achieved or gained, it is a lie that you say you are perfect, when in truth it only shows your flaw because you have delusional yourself to thinking as such. You are only as perfect as you are made, and you were never made well."

Shepard looked on, surprised by the reasoning. It would seem that this Shinigami knew more about the Reapers than anyone else. Many were captivated as he seemed to be winning an argument with a powerful AI, something only a damn god could do.

"You think you are preserving life but your actions are simply shackling them to a cycle, instead of changing the game you play it over and over again without altering it. That is where you fall, you don't allow for change and for mistakes to be made, you pick a little corner for them to exist and leave them to follow what you lay in wake." Urahara said. "This is not perfection, all you do is take away from them, take away their ability to be more than what they are."

"They will fall, their greatest moments are marked with tragedy and doom, they destroy themselves because they do not restrain their growth and hunger for knowledge and dominance, and they do not maintain but spread and do not regard the damage they leave in their wake." Harbringer replied, defending his logic, it actually sounded like he was breaking.

"They are only mortal, as they saying could go, but I can tell that there is one thing that makes them different than you. It is the one thing that actually makes them better than you, because no matter what happens to them they are able to persevere and change and evolve and grow stronger. There is a single reason these lowly mortals are so powerful, so strong." Urahara replied, looking down at the family, smiling slightly. "It is because they have souls."

"Your philosophy's and mysticisms are no importance," Harbringer retorted, obviously aggravated by the comment.

"Mysticism? I talk about facts, you have nothing in you but a single directive you have no way of understanding other than how you have been programmed, you feel no love, no doubt and no pity for the actions and pain you cause by taking away the lives of so many innocents. And that lack of empathy is why you do not evolve, do not grow or chose to allow the inevitable or make to change this game you play." Urahara said.

He turned towards the family, kneeling down he looked at them and gave a reassuring smile. Extending his hand he beckoned the young girl to step forward, she did so hesitantly, her parents telling her to come back.

"We often think ourselves gods in a way, who would not, we have power and the ability to do things no other being can. But where your masters fed you their misconception of superiority, we chose a different way; we chose to not hinder those below. We allowed them to grow and prosper on their own while we maintained the task of balancing our two worlds."

Urahara looked at the child; he gave her an encouraging smile as he held out his hand and gestured to her small toy. She looked at it, a small blue bird stuffed toy that she held onto tightly, not willing to let it go.

"It's alright, I will give him back." Urahara said.

The girl hesitantly extended her toy towards the Shinigami, who gently took it into his hands and stood. He walked away for a moment, looking down at the toy with a melancholic look, remembering things from a time long past.

"You see, while we are the same, we are also different, because you were made to simply follow a directive that was without regard to those you were protecting, but we are different." Urahara said, lifting the toy and rummaging through his pocket. "We do not do things because it is fun or it is an order, but it is an obligation we protect humans and their souls, so that they may continue to exist and grow. We do it because we need to do it. They do not know how they make it difficult sometimes, but we do not mind, we do not care that they often become frustrating."

He grabbed a small pill and looked at it for a moment.

"But the true fault in your creation comes from that fact you cannot understand the people your harvest, you see only a crop rather than a heard that needs to be nurtured and allowed to be led and guided at the right time." Urahara continued, placing the pill in the toys mouth. "It is your own arrogance that came from your masters that made you cold and disregarding, you cannot see yourself as taking life if you preserve what they are, what they achieved, but that becomes pointless what that achievement is lost and disregarded by those who come next."

He held the toy in his hand, it began to twitch.

"You are flawed because you have no soul," Urahara said, dropping the toy to the ground.

The toy corrected its descent and landed on its feet, his head swirling around in wonder, while those who witnessed it were in silent awe of the scene. The bird began to walk forward, taking slow careful steps before it began to slowly hop.

"Your masters made you flawed, they did not make you one with the world and the others that lived in it, and because of that you will never understand the races you claim to be protecting."

The bird continued to hop around the Shinigami, letting out cute shrills as it did so. Before it came to a halt and looked at the young girl, who stared back surprised.

The little bird toy leapt from the ground and wrapped its little limbs around the girls neck and hugged her. The girl let out a yelp before the toy began to snuggle with the girl, letting out several chirps and giggles. The affection was soon reciprocated as the young shy girl soon giggled and returned the affection.

"This is what true creation is, not making machines or slaves, but making life that you can stand beside, not only as a creator, but as a patriarch, and a brother, as a friend, as an equal." Urahara said, he turned to glare at the hologram. "Do you understand now?"

 **Hope you enjoyed.**


	4. Chapter 4

**It has been a while I know, but lucky for you all I am here to show you all the cool new chapter for Are We Alone. And I can tell you, it is a doozy, and fun to write. Been busy for me, writing all these chapter and getting them posted. Nearly midnight here and I can tell you I am sleepy.**

 **Been a nice month for me, playing Dragon Age Inquisition, finally! Because I got it and never played it because I was so busy writing and now that I have the time I am playing non-stop. So much fun.**

 **But enough about that, this chapter is going to be awesome because it is deep into the story and will be near the beginning of the events where the Galaxy will learn about the Shinigami. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Are we Alone**

 **Chapter 04: The Butcher of Torfan**

 **Torfen Surface**

It was pure hell, fighting inch by inch over the craggy and uneven ground across the barren fields towards the Stronghold. Over one thousand Alliance marines had been deployed to assault the fortress' south-east section, aiming to take out its artillery battery so reinforcements could land.

"Get to cover!"

But that was proving to be difficult, as the Batarian's had set up some heavy weapons to keep them from moving more than an inch or above three feet from the ground unless you wanted to be shredded. Mortars and heavy machines guns and sniper perches were all over the place, making it impossible to move through the area safely.

They had taken serious losses already taking the ground they had, two hundred had been seriously wounded and about half as many were dead.

"Sir, we lost half the squad, how do we…?" He never finished as his head exploded from a mass accelerator round bursting through his cover and then his skull.

The man next to him dropped even lower, nearly lying prone on the ground as more gunfire assaulted their position. Sniper fire along with thousands of rounds of mass-accelerated machine gun rounds was hitting their position along with everyone else. There was a one in four chance you wouldn't get hit, and a one in three chance it wouldn't be fatal.

So there was little return fire at the moment, between the overwhelming gunfire and mounting wounded, standing up to get shot ain't a top priority. The only priority was getting to the damn trenches where they could actually start fighting back without risking being shot for actually standing up.

"Colonel, we have a position where you can flank them and secure a choke-point for your force to move in." The radio crackled, signalling to the commanding officer in charge of the army group.

"Marines, follow me!" Colonel Hannibal Grimsley ordered, having his men move around through cover and towards the closest over crop that sat close to a machine gun nest. If they could take that they would have an opening to get inside.

"Alright, we need to hit that gun perch, take that and we have a way in and can start taking out these bastards." Hannibal said over the comms, he looked to see the scared face of his men, he knew exactly why.

The only way to that gun perch was a twenty meter open area that gave no cover and left them completely open to enemy fire and the perch they were assaulting. More than likely most of them were going to die, and if the worse came all of them would die. Yet he knew he had to do this, if they didn't, more than just they would die.

"Form up! Wide formation, heavy's in front and weapons free and shoot anything you see!" Colonel Hannibal ordered, taking his shotgun off his lower back and pumping it for good measure.

Without another word he leaped from cover, his men following him without a battle cry or shout of protest. They knew it had to be done, and cowering would only lead to shame and death for everyone there. They made the first five meters before the first man fell, his torso riddled with holes and smeared with blood, half a second later three more joined him.

They kept running and more kept falling, bullets went flying in both directions, scoring kills on one side or the others. The Alliance took it the hardest; there were already thirty marines dead before they eventually reached the nest. Only three Batarians remained, three others were killed in the charge, small considering how many were lost.

All three were quickly gunned down by collective gun fire from the marines as they entered the nest, and taking it for themselves. But even inside they were still in danger, two more marines fell to the ground, heads blow off by snipers from further towards the fortress. The marines took cover and started reaping their own justice, sniper to sniper and machine gun to machine gun.

For the first time since they landed on the moon they had actually started to kill something with some momentum that wasn't at a snail's pace. Slowly, but surely, they were turning the tide against the defenders. But it was not without its cost.

"Sir, what are your orders?" One corporal asked, his question directed to Major Kyle, the current commander.

When the nest was taken they had lost Colonel Hannibal, he died in the charge and was still laying down there with several holes in his chest and one in his forehead. In the last ten minutes there had been three other commanders, two had been still in the crevices under fire from the mortars and machines guns and had died within three minutes of each other. Now, Major Kyle was in charge, the current ranking officer in charge.

"Keep firing, take out the nests, the more openings we make the more our men can fight back!" Kyle yelled, ducking down as a sniper round nearly took his head off, thankfully bouncing off his kinetic barriers.

He turned and started firing at the direction it came, hoping to either hit or suppress the bastard that shot at him. But it was not needed as another shot rang out and he saw a body fall from the snipers nest he had been shooting at. He turned and looked to the young woman that had fired the shot and given a nod.

"Start making your way to the other nests, snipe from a distance and then charge, counter sniping is also a go. Give our boys a chance to stretch their legs." Kyle ordered, looking around frantically as his men carried out the order.

He ducked down as a few rounds bounced off the steel barrier he was behind, and then he gasped as he saw one of his boys fell down. He was gasping for air, the side of his neck had been opened up and he was bleeding everywhere. A medic came over and tried to help, but soon he too was hit and he slumped to the side, a clean hole through his temple and a blown out chuck of his skull splattering two Marines behind him.

Kyle looked on for a moment, transfixed at the many bodies that were ahead of him and the way they had been killed. Blown out chests, head and some had limbs that were shredded to piece from high-powered and numerous rounds. It was horrifying actually, to see so much death and the manner of execution was a nightmare in on its own.

"Major Kyle, do you read?"

Kyle jerked for a moment, surprised by the sudden call for his name. He looked around for a moment before his hand went to his earpiece on his helmet.

"This… this is Major Kyle… I read you."

"This is Admiral Hackett, what is your status?" The gravelly voice of their leader brought some calm to the Major.

"We are making headway sir, but we have lost a lot of men, nearly half. And more are wounded, we need…" Kyle started, but was cut off.

"What is your status?" Admiral Hackett called again, wanting a report and not a relay of what was wrong.

Kyle was a little pissed at that command; it was obvious he did not want to know how bad things were going on down here. But if they could make the operation work and if they were going to do it, no matter the bodied needed. His training kicked in as always and he relayed the situation.

"We have secured a part of the frontal defences, were dismantling the rest now, we will be moving onto the anti-air tower soon sir." Kyle replied, keeping himself professional after being brought back by the Admiral.

"Keep it up, Hackett out."

Kyle took a deep breath and found his center before he decided to get into the fight himself. He quickly lifted himself up and moved for the nearest nest, finding that his men were already occupying it and allowing for reinforcements to get up along the edge. That was good, they could start advancing now.

For the next half an hour they fought, slowly taking out the machine gun nests and allowing the Marines a path through their defences. Contending with sniper fire and mortar rounds, but they were making progress. A little longer and they could take out the artillery tower and finally begin the main assault on the bunker.

But most of all they would get their reinforcements.

Most of the nests that had been taken had been used to keep the wounded; over half of the marines had to be kept there because they were injured in some capacity. But they still had two hundred still able to continue and finally get to the AA-guns. But it was getting more complicated; the pirates were abandoning their others posts and coming straight for them.

"Get to cover!" Kyle ordered, finding a nice little trench system they could use.

But it ended up with them mostly being surrounded with only one way to go, but that would result in them getting shredded in the retreat. They were effectively trapped in a small little series of trenches and dug out holes where they had to stay alive.

"Dammit! We can't get to the guns!" Kyle growled out, desperation and rage in his words.

He had lead his men into a damn kill zone and now they were all going to die because of it. There was no way they could hold off this many for long, they would swarm their position in no time and then it would be all over.

"We need reinforcements!" Major Kyle screamed over the comm, hoping to get some men from the nests to offer assistance.

But so far from the bunker it would impossible, they were too far out and they would be gone within a minute or two. The thought scared the hell out of him and made him wonder if this entire operation was even worth it.

"Negative Major!" Someone replied over the line. "Enemy forces inbound, unable to assist!"

The Major cursed, this was a mistake, and there was no way they could have taken this fortress without air support or reinforcements. They were all going to die on this moon and they likely were never going to get buried. This was going to be where they all die.

Why did he have to be here? Leading all these men and woman to their deaths when someone else could have? This is wrong.

"Please, god, I don't want to die." Kyle mumbled to himself, as the last of his will to fight slipped from him.

It was in that moment the fighting stopped, a silence descended upon the field as all gun halted and all voices went mute. But it was not of their own volition that the hostilities were ended, but some other force descending upon them. But then something happened, everyone felt something push down on their shoulders and for a single instant they felt as if death itself had just walked over their graves.

* * *

Hackett felt his chest tighten slightly, a horrible feeling passing through him. He looked over the bridge and saw that everyone else was hunched over slightly, as if their hearts were aching. Meaning he wasn't the only one to suffer.

In a moment the pressure started it had ceased, no longer feeling the dread and pain over his heart he straightened up and oversaw the situation. It was not good, he could see that some of the people present had actually passed out from the sudden outburst.

"What was that?" Hackett called over the bridge, looking for an answer.

"Sir… I… I don't know, it was some kind of… matter displacement field or something…" One officer said, looking over his terminal and shaking his head in confusion and worry.

"Come again Lieutenant?" Hackett inquired, moving with purpose over to the boy.

"I have no idea sir! These readings make no sense, I am detecting a massive fluctuation of unknown particles in the atmosphere yet they aren't being registered on our scanners." The officer replied, not understanding it.

He could detect the strange displacements of energy in the atmosphere because of how the matter on the ground was reacting; in fact it was so huge that even oxygen and hydrogen were being propelled away from it. It was quite literally so powerful that hydrogen and oxygen atoms were being forced away from it, which is almost unheard of.

"What the hell is down there?" Hackett ordered.

"I don't know sir; it just appeared out of nowhere."

Hackett looked over the scanners and could only guess what he was seeing, showing that the actual matter and atmosphere was being replaced with another foreign force. As what they were currently seeing was the area spanning several miles was being pushed away from something. In fact it was so large that it not only encompassed the location of the Bunkers but also the space above it.

There was no telling how this displacement of energy could be affecting their people on the ground or the danger they were in. People could be dying down there for all he knew.

"Where is it?"

"South-East of the bunker sir." The officer replied. "Right where our troops are."

* * *

Major Kyle could barely breathe; he took in shallow and pained breaths. Every single bone in his body felt like it was on fire, and being crushed under something. He looked around to see some of his marines had passed out and those that hadn't were on their hands and knees. Struggling to get back to their feet.

He had passed out himself and everyone else was either still out of it or like him, staggering back into consciousness while trying to make sense of what happened. Was this some kind of weapon? Some kind of strange gravitational weapon that is able to amplify the pressure in a vicinity of their choosing.

With what strength he had he looked over to the pirates, they were also affected, by whatever this was. In fact he could barely keep his eyes from closing, or keeping the darkness around the edge of his eyes from taking him completely. What the hell was going on? Even with the pressure gone he could barely feel like he was going to fall asleep in the next moment or not.

He fell to a knee and tried to regain control over his motor functions, and failed. He fell onto his back and stared up at the sky unable to lift himself up properly. Whatever had happened had sapped the strength right out of his body. Everyone seemed to be in the same boat as they tried to regain their bearings and either remain awake or try to keep fighting. But no one was doing anything.

For a few minutes no one fired a shot, still reeling from what just happened. Then they felt it again, it was more subtle this time, but none the less it was there. The overwhelming feeling of dread as something monstrous was looking down at you.

Everyone was on edge, the feeling of imminent death looming over them all.

"Fucking worthless bunch you are."

Everyone turned, the voice catching everyone in the vicinity with its harshness and deep vocalization. Their gaze landed on a man in black robes with a white cloak who sat upon a large piece of rock that allowed him to stand out against the contrasting reddish sky. He had long black hair that hang down his back, with a small black eye patch over his right eye.

"I come here and expect a good fight and you all up and start dying when I show up, how disappointing." He said, a sneer on his lips as he glared down at the people around him.

"What… the hell?" A Marine said, backing away from the man, who somehow exuded murder and crazy.

None could deny that, the aura they felt was still there, the dread and fear they felt ripped at their hearts and made it impossible for them to stand the presence of this man. His entire physical appearance was that of a raving animal looking to sink his teeth into something.

"Hey you fuck! Where did you come from! What was this shit you just did!" A Batarian pirate said, raising a pistol from several feet away from the man, who simply turned and looked at him.

The cold and murderous gold eyes of this unknown man descended upon this single brave or stupid pirate who seemed to be frozen in place.

"Fuck off."

What happened next was confusing to some, but outright terrifying all the same. The Batarian's arm dropped and then he coughed up blood; he then fell to his knees and face planted onto the ground. Leaving many to wonder how the hell that happened, and to be answered by the man who did it.

"You've got to be kidding, are you all so weak that you can't even take it when I talk with you?" The man asked, looking annoyed.

Everyone backed off; he just killed a guy by looking at him and telling him to beat it, if he could do that. Then simply looking at him could be fatal, and the fact being near him hurt likes hell that may not be far off. It even got worse when he stood up and looked over the field, giving a dismissive huff as he glared at the people around him.

"Well, since I am here, might as well get rid of you guys." He said, towering over everyone a good six feet and six inches, his single eye looking down at the remaining Alliance Marines. "Since you guys look like shit, I won't bother with you."

He then looked up at the assembled force of pirates and mercs, smiling like a madman. His pearly white teeth sparkling and his face contorted to that of a homicidal maniac. The chill they felt accompanied by the rising pressure they felt made them wonder what kind of bad things were about to happen.

"I may be here searching and doing recon, or shit like that. But since he isn't around I can kill you all I want, so, let's begin shall we?" His response was a missile to the face, before a barrage of heavy weapons fire went right at him.

It continued for a full minute before everyone had to stop and let their weapons cool. As the smoke cleared it revealed the man, completely unharmed and smirking all the more ferociously. The dread only rose along with the pressure, as if he was enjoying getting annoyed.

"Is that it? Come on, throw something at me that may actually hurt me, it's no fun having a one sided slaughter." He said, looking irritated.

His response was the shifting of the AA-gun, the massive weapon turning on its stand and aiming for the man that was standing nary a few dozen yards from everyone else. As it turned towards the man he only cocked his head to the side.

"Everyone down!" Kyle yelled, watching the massive guns turn and aim at the man who simply smirked.

Then it fired, and watched as the ground simply erupted into a miniature nuclear explosion of force. Sending a powerful shockwave through the area that knocked several merc and pirates on their asses and knocked some clean out.

The Alliance Marines were only lucky to be on lower ground where the force passed right over them, but still they were lucky none appeared to have died. He looked around, finding that debris and dust had clouded much of their vision.

"Everyone okay!" Kyle called out.

He was not met with a reply immediately, only grunts and growls; he turned to look out over the edge to see that the pirates were alive. Some appeared to have been killed by the concussive force of the explosion that decimated the area around them. He could see some were up and alive, but not in good shape.

"The fuck! You idiot, what did you do! You could have killed us all!" A Batarian pirated yelled over the comm. "What do you mean Elysium! What the fuck does that have to do with anything!"

Kyle had no idea what was going on but he made no argument, if the AA-gun had done this maybe they could survive if they retreated.

"Impossible…"

Kyle turned to the utterance, and he himself was left with a deep seated feeling of despair as he looked on at the sight.

Everyone looked on as the dust settled, the cloud disperse, and instead of a crater with nothing in it. There was the man, hovering over it and with his head bowed. His clothes tattered and his body bruised and covered in gashes. He was shaking, some thought he was hurt severely, but that was not true. He threw back his head and let out a roar of laughter that chilled everyone to the bone.

He was laughing; the sheer idea of taking an anti-air shot from a mass accelerator cannon made them shudder to think that such a thing could be joyful. The fact he survived the strike only made it more scary that he only had a bruise and a few scrapes that came from it.

"That is what I am talking about!" He yelled, glee on his face and in his voice. "Now that you got that gun there, you may actually survive against me, let's find out!"

Without a word he leaped higher into the air and descended down toward the terrified pirates, drawing a jagged and worn sword from within his robes. Holding it high he slashed down, and the very ground beneath them ruptured as if an explosion had gone off right where he had struck. Those closest were thrown away, either dead from the force or the edge of the sword or knocked out by the concussive force. But it did not end there.

He emerged from the cloud, hacking and slashing, like a madman he fought against anyone around him. Shrugging off bullets and grenades like they were nothing, smiling like a madman who had nothing better to do than massacre all these people.

"Sir, what do we do?" A Marine asked, fearful as he watched the monster of a man kill his way through dozens if not hundreds of pirates.

Kyle didn't response, the sight of this man butchering the pirates was simply the last straw for him, and he simply sat down and let it happen. He couldn't watch it, he could take it anymore, he just wanted out of this, all he wanted was to go home.

* * *

"What is going on down there?" Hackett called over the comms, the energy signature or whatever it was seemed to be disrupting transmissions, and worse still it was right on top of where there men were.

"I don't know sir, I am trying to get a visual."

"What about that energy signature?" Hackett ordered.

"We are still analyzing it, but it is impossible to identify what it is and where it came from." Another officer said, she was looking over the analysis and trying to get the computer to find some form of energy they could use to identify the particular anomaly.

"Sir I have a visual."

"Show me." Hackett ordered, and watched as a screen came to life and showed an orbital view of the fighting.

Immediately he knew what was happening, and he tensed when he saw the monster in this one.

"Another one…" The Admiral murmured, looking at the savage display of swordsmanship this one used.

But he looked to be much worse for wear than last seen, and then he saw why; the image was engulfed in a brilliant explosion and distorted, revealing that the man had been shot by the AA-gun. The image pulled back to see the destruction caused by the gun, a large crater formed and also created a descent wave of force.

But emerging from the cloud was the man, roaring and charging into the next closest batch of pirates that weren't dead. This continued for several seconds before another shot was fired, this one catapulting the man away before he charged back in. None the worse for wear, but the sight of his reddening skin was proof that he wasn't coming out of this unscathed.

But still those AA-guns had a massive hit to them. Those guns have a destructive kinetic force of three kilotons, meaning that the man was surviving blast and receiving only minor injuries was very disturbing indeed.

"Get me someone down there, I need to speak with the men immediately." Hackett ordered, snapping the men out of their trance as they watched the man butcher everything in his path.

* * *

"Dear god! He's fucking taking an AA gun like it's nothing!" A Marine yelled, hiding in a ditch as another explosion went off, courtesy of the AA gun and afterword's only manic laughter was heard.

"This is Admiral Hackett, is anyone receiving me?" The Seventh Fleet Admiral called over the comm.

"T-this is Captain Fulton! Admiral we need help down here, there is this… monster or something!" The currently in charge officer said, Major Kyle simply was zoned out, sitting on a rock and simply grazing at nothing on the ground.

"Captain, reinforcements are on-route, the attack in fully underway, but do not engage while that man is present, do not engage him or threaten him, do you understand?" Admiral Hackett demanded quickly.

"Sir? Is he… with us… or…?" Fulton started.

"Do you understand Captain!" Hackett demanded once more.

"Yes sir, I will keep the men back and wait for backup." Captain Fulton replied weakly, ducking down as another explosion occurred, coming from the AA gun.

For the next ten minutes they waited within the trenches as the fighting continued, it dying down to the people simply running for their lives. But not getting far, the monster following them and murdering them all in an instant. It was horrible; the ones in the trenches could only hear those dying screams, growing fainter and duller with each passing second. But it did not grow easier on their ears, only worse.

Another explosion sounded off, the sound coming from the AA-gun, many had suspected that the gun had landed a hit on the man again. But it was not the case this time around, it was different as there was no massive upturn of kinetic force or dust, but a resounding crash.

Instead of it firing and leveling the area once more, it had been destroyed. The massive weapon meant to destroy anything that got in its way was in pieces and falling to the ground at the bottom of the bunker it was situated upon.

Leaping out of the wreckage was the madman that had carried out the destruction of a weapon that would have taken an army to accomplish. Landing on the roof of the bunker and laughing manically.

"Damn, that was fun, all those wounds are starting to sting though." The man said.

"Kenny!" To those watching it would have been a shock to see a girl pop up from inside his clothing on his back, none the worse for wear. "You really got thrown around a lot, you should really learn to dodge!"

"Like hell, barely felt it the first time, like a mosquito bite." Kenny replied without much care. "But now, we should see about getting onto the main course."

"Yay!" The young pinked haired girl cheered.

"You guys have got to have more to fight with! After all, if you have one big gun outside, you got to have something else inside." The madman yelled, smirking proudly before raising his sword up high.

A wave of energy shot out into the sky, a pillar of golden light that seemed to warp gravity and the pressure around them. Making it lesson yet somehow grow at the same time, they felt the air in their lungs seize, yet the very earth around them seemed to crack and rise from the ground and fly around.

Many marines had lost conscious and were unable to even keep themselves from falling into the dark as the pressure built. The internal systems in their armor flaring as the shields attempted to work on countering the massive outburst of energy and save their wearer. But that made little to no difference.

"Drink: Nozarashi!" He yelled and from him a massive wave of energy exploded, blinding everyone who had the strength to stand and watch.

Then from the release of energy they saw it, a huge axe with a long, cloth-wrapped handle and a tassel attached to the top. The thing was massive, as big as a damn mako and he was holding it up in his hand like it was nothing. Those who had yet to collapse from the sheer draining effort could only watch for a few second what happened next.

"Now… lets crack this thing open and see what's inside." He laughed, slamming his axe down on top of the bunker, and soon an eruption of force exploded outward as the very surface of the planet shook.

Their final moments were in muted awe as the entire bunker was torn to pieces from a single slash, watching at the entire roof caved in and collapsed into the underground levels. Then without a word the monster of a man dropped down inside the massive hole he had created.

With that final sight the last of the living marines lapsed into unconsciousness.

* * *

Hackett felt his chest heave as he took in several deep breaths and try to figure out what had caused this sudden and explosive amount of energy to appear. He looked to his staff to see they were just as stumped as he was. But in truth he had a good idea where it came from, but not how the hell that thing did it.

"What is the situation down there?" Hackett called out, taking in a deep breath.

"Unknown, we have lost contact with the surface; we are getting no radio traffic what so ever." Someone called out.

"What about the Pirates? Are they saying anything?" Hackett asked.

"No sir, we have nothing, the entire moon is silent."

Hackett did not like this, he was certain whatever was down there was the same as the one that had been sighted on Elysium and on Akuze. If that was the case what had drawn it here? The fighting? The deaths? The threat to humanity?

'What the hell are these things after?' Hackett thought to himself privately, he couldn't reveal anything.

But with what was going on now, he was not so certain that he could keep a lid on this, not with so many witnesses. This was going to get bad, really bad.

"Get a team down there now!" Hackett ordered.

* * *

 _Thirty Minutes Later_

Colonel Laurent landed with her team, the advance group of marines moved forward with rifles raised and ready to fight. But what they found was a field filled with mutilated bodies, mostly in pieces and scraps on the ground, a pretty nasty sight.

"Colonel, we have men at the gun nests near the outer perimeter, we have a lot of wounded here. Beginning evac now."

"Roger that." Laurent replied, before she moved forward with her small squad of twenty marines to find their people.

The next ten minutes were silent and very anxious for every single member of the team, whatever had happened here was far from pretty. The gore and smell, that even their mask filters were unable to fully filter out, made it a very bleach experience for all present.

"What the hell happened here?" One of her marines asked, she didn't respond, no one did.

But the question hung in the air for a long while, and there was no answer to give. That only made the situation worse. For moving across the battlefield with nothing to tell you what caused it was more distressing than anything they have experienced. Some would think Thrasher Maws, others would think artillery, and some would hypothesis some kind of monster.

Although the warning given to her by Admiral Hackett was clear as day that something bad was down here. He made it quite clear what she had to do if she came into contact with the thing that did this, but it made her wonder. If it could do something like this, was it really going to care what she said or not.

"Ma'am, we got survivors ahead."

Laurent looked on through the thick smoke and dust to see that there were a few dug out trenches ahead that seemed to have movement. She raised her weapon and advanced with her team, moving slowly and using the smoke to cover their advance.

"Stick to the smoke and dust, do not let them see us until we are on them." Laurent ordered.

Within two minutes they were on the edge and looking down at the barely standing soldiers within, and to her relief they were all Alliance Marines. She lowered her weapon and moved in, dropping into the trench with her team on her heals.

"Get these people checked out, make sure they are alright." Laurent ordered, before moving on to find someone in charge. "Alright, who is in charge here?"

"That would be me ma'am, Captain Fulton." A black haired man said, stepping forward and giving a salute.

"Alright Captain, what the hell went on down here?" Laurent asked, looking over to the bunker about three hundred yards from their position. The top had been caved in and the damn AA-Gun had been blown to hell.

"We were trying to hit the bunker and take down the AA-Gun, we got pinned down on all sides. Than something hit the place, it felt like the gravity got turned up ten times than what it should be." Fulton said, breathing faster than normal and looking frazzled all the while.

It was then that Lauren noted that everyone else seemed quite dejected and downright scared right now; whatever had done this scared the hell out of these people. But the questioned remained as to what did this.

"Do you know what caused it?" Laurent inquired.

"Yeah… that thing… that monster did this." Fulton replied, shaking his head and looking really spooked.

"What was it?" Laurent asked, she needed to know what she was going against.

"I don't know… it looked human… but it couldn't be. It took heavy fire from that AA-gun and only got a rash for god sakes. It killed everyone here! It kept getting shot and didn't stop, he just kept laughing!" Fulton said, looking panicked.

Laurent didn't know if she should accept that or not, it looked human and took a damn AA-Gun blast and didn't get blown into nothing? That was impossible, nothing like that exists. But these guys were scared, and the way he was saying it made it out to be some kind of nightmare. Looking around the area she could not doubt that.

"Okay, where is it?" Laurent asked.

In that moment a massive boom sounded, she looked over to see smoke and fire rising from the outside of one of the bunkers about a click from their position. Then it exploded, debris and rubble going everywhere.

"I would say he is in there. Killing everything." Fulton replied. "We need to get out of here, he can kill people by simply being near them for god sakes, shit I was him kill a guy by saying two words."

Laurent was a little put off by that, but she couldn't let this lie down. She needed to investigate and see what the hell was going on in there. These bunkers held more than just pirates, but also hostages and prisoners, most that were to be sold off as slaves. She couldn't allow that to happen.

"Get these people back to the outer perimeter, near the gun nests, we have people picking up the wounded and getting off the surface." Laurent ordered.

"What about you?" Fulton asked, watching as she quickly made a motion as she and her team started moving off.

"Seeing what's inside that bunker." Laurent replied.

* * *

The explosions and subtle cries of the dying could be heard as they descending through the complex, the entire bunker had been gutted and destroyed by whatever had come through. They couldn't find a single body that had not been brutally or mercifully killed, they were in tattered, even just smears on the wall.

The men were on edge and had their guns raised all the time, despite moving through quickly they were going at a snail's pace. Not a single one of them wanted to make any noise or even uttered a word for the next hour as the listened to every single sound to come their way.

Mostly gunfire and screaming.

"What the fuck did this?" A marine hissed in worry,

It was no surprise; the sentiment was shared between everyone in the squad. Along with any survivors of this massacre that would be shitting their pants right about now and wondering what was going to be killing them soon enough.

"Keep quiet; I don't want anything knowing we're here." Laurent ordered,

She kept her eyes ahead of her, remembering the very words given to her by Admiral Hackett.

' _Do not engage the anomaly, if you come into contact do not antagonize or threaten it, lower your weapons, simply state your name and your affiliation and go no further._ '

But even that she did not feel comfortable running into this thing, the fact it had butchered its way through this entire facility meant nothing could stop it. She remembered what Fulton said, and the fact she was seeing this right now was making her have second thoughts.

If whatever did this was one man, and could kill all these people and do this amount of damage. How was her and twenty Marines going to do anything against it?

"You got to be shitting me?" She heard a loud expletive down the hall; she raised her hands and motioned for the squad to halt. "How the hell did I step out of line?"

Laurent motioned forward her squad, having them move forward slowly and quietly, not knowing what she would be finding. Her pace did not increase but actually grow slower; she could not risk them being found out by whatever was in there.

"You came to this planet and openly engaged them, not only against orders but also against the law." She heard another voice,

As she rounded the corridor she instead found much of the inner room had been given way to a large crevice. She looked up to see the many upper levels had been actually destroyed and leveled, bringing the entire facility down inside. In fact it looked like a giant hole had been dug into the bunker and leaving it hollow.

"I did some recon, and had to split a few heads along the way, what is the problem with that? Besides they aren't human, never said we couldn't kill those." She heard the rough voice ask, obviously he was talking with someone.

"Do not try to act smart here, you are too much of a fool to play at being intelligent."

Laurent moved forward and looked down inside and saw two individuals below, both of them wearing black clothing with white cloaks on their backs. With a few minor differences but besides that they looked mostly the same in attire. Thought, the main difference came with their physical appearance more than anything else.

The taller individual had long wild hair that was midnight black, his face covered in long and often hard to see scaring and wearing an eyepatch. He was a warrior type of guy, someone you would likely see fighting on the front lines in the damn terminus. The other guy was pale faced and neat, combed long hair and looking impeccable despite being in the midst of a destroyed building.

"What was that? You insulting me right now? Be careful, otherwise we may have a problem." The larger man said, smirking as he brought his sword down from his shoulder.

"Do not test me Kenpachi." The shorter man said, looking on impassively. "You were ordered never to interfere with these beings under any circumstance, regardless if you were seen or not. And yet here you are fighting and killing them, including humans. That is a violation; under no reason are humans to be killed without express orders."

Laurent looked on for a while, her team situating themselves on the edge and behind whatever cover they could to watch the exchange. It was interesting to say the least.

"Yeah, what about Ichigo and that little sister of yours, heard they got their hands dirty, since when are they able to get off scot free?" Kenpachi said, looking annoyed.

"Rukia's actions was within self-defense; those Thrasher Maws as these humans call them attacked her, and she acted accordingly and she did not go there seeking a fight, only searching for those humans that had been killed." The regal looking man replied.

"Still killed those other humans though, what about that?" Kenpachi said.

"Because they saw and recorded her, evidence of our existence is to be kept at a limit, you know how humans are. And with your actions here, that is likely going to be a problem." The long haired man said, looking slightly annoyed.

"Please, Ichigo killed over three thousand of these guys on Elysium and he got off scot free, and you expect me to take it up the ass when I kill just as many on some rock in the middle of nowhere?" Kenpachi growled out, looking completely vexed.

Laurent felt her eyes widen slightly, these guys were talking about Elysium? Dear god was one of these guys on that planet. If that was the case that would explain the body count she had seen, and the unknown explanation as to what had happened.

Did this mean that what happened on Elysium was because of these guys, one of these guys?

"He should never have been placed on a sensitive mission such as this; his connection to humanity is too strong. He let his own sentimentality get the better of him, and that made him act." The regal man replied with no hint of emotion. "Yet as you claim he was reprimanded for his actions."

"He didn't get shit, they told him not to do it again and now you're throwing me to the wolves for doing what he did, fucking nerve of you people." Kenpachi sneered with apparent anger.

"You broke the law." The man replied.

"Yeah, and compared to what we are up against a few thousand deaths are meaningless compared to extinction isn't it?" Kenpachi argued back.

"He is not here, and you took it upon yourself to murder thousands to prove it. This could have been avoided and now not only have we revealed ourselves, we will not be dealing with people we should not have to." The regal looking man replied, his voice grim as he made the declaration.

Laurent watched with interest as these people continued to argue, it would seem that they were not meant to be here. But what surprised her was that they were referring to humanity, and in a way that said that these guys were not human. It begged the question, what the hell were these guys.

She needed to get out of here and report this to Hackett, something was going on right now and these guys were getting involved in their fights. More than that they seemed to be capable of whipping out armies without a problem and seem to have done it before.

"Move back to the exit, we are leaving." Laurent ordered over the comms, they needed to leave immediately.

But as she turned she froze, because there was someone standing right in front of her. To her rising worry it was a young pinked haired girl, and wearing a uniform that was similar to the two below. Immediately she got the idea that this girl was just like those two, and she was right in front of him.

She cocked her head to the side for a moment and made a cute little pout, as if she was considering something.

"Hello." She said.

Laurent was stumped for a moment, not knowing exactly what to do, reply or remain completely shell-shocked and unable to say a god damn word.

"Hi, my name is Rachael Laurent, what's your name…?" Laurent asked.

"Yachiru Kusajishi." The young girl replied. "Do you have any candy?"

Laurent was floored once more; the cute and completely random question had thrown her off completely. How the hell was she meant to answer that let alone comply with it, after all if she said no there was no telling what could happen.

"Sorry, I don't have any candy." Laurent replied soothingly, hoping it would work; all the while she switched to private channel. "Get out of here now."

If her men could get out they would at least be safe if things went sour, but that stopped when she heard a voice behind her.

"Yachiru, do not speak with them."

Laurent turned and saw that right behind her was the man that had been addressing the one called Kenpachi. He looked down at her for a moment with cold and dispassionate eyes.

She couldn't speak, let alone move as he simply looked at her with those eyes that simply acknowledged that she existed and nothing else. His hand firmly placed over his sword, she would have not thought he would be a danger, but considering the other one, this guy was not something to mess with.

With what strength she could she stood up and faced him, looking him square in the eye before removing her helmet. She let her hair fall down before she looked right back at him, steeling her nerves and schooling her features as best she could.

"Captain Samantha Laurent, System Alliance Marine Core, Seventh Fleet, Fourth Battalion." Laurent quickly called out.

Yet a sense of dread crawling up her spine as he remained impassive, not blinking or acknowledging her words. For a moment there was silence as both parties stood there and looked at one another.

Then he turned and looked at Kenpachi, who now was floating on the air behind the man, and saying one last thing.

"We are leaving." The man said, turning and seemingly walking through an invisible door as his form simply shifted out of perception. The other man followed right after the young pink haired girl latched onto his shoulder, who gave a small wave as they both departed.

Laurent sagged visibly and took in several deep breaths, that was the most nerve wracking experiences she had ever felt. Never in her life had she ever experienced something like that, to be in the presence of something so powerful, armies would mean nothing against it.

She may not have seen it but the fact she knew that these things were not human and had caused all this destruction. To be in the presence of something so godly was scary, really scary.

* * *

 **Arcturus Station**

 _Three Days Later_

"This is bad, this is incredibly bad." Kastanie said, she looked over the report and media outlet, everything was falling apart. "News is all over this, how the hell did they get the damn recordings on Akuze?"

"Unknown, but I can say that when brass heard about this they got worried." Jaro replied, shaking his head.

You would have thought that the government would have kept this quiet, but after the destruction of Torfan the majority of the information distributed was from the Terminus. And it had distributed fast; all across the damn extranet this stuff had been leaked. Even information on Elysium had been dropped as well, and it was looking bad.

"Looks like our heads are on the chopping block now." Ines said, shaking his head as he moved from the table and to look out of the window.

The void of space did little to ease his worries, or the many starts that were seen. No his concerns were too powerful to be erased in the vacuum of space.

"We can't do anything now, can we?" Nitesh asked.

"No, the Council is already demanding answers and soon we will be getting questioned, and since we did this without sanctions we will all be getting our asses handed to us." Ines replied. "I will take much of the brunt of this, I am in charge of the Navy and ordered this to secrecy. So in that case I want you to keep yourselves afloat, we can't lose anyone else."

"You expect us to let you take the fall for this?" Mariah asked.

This man had been the leader of the First Fleet and entire Alliance Navy for the last two decades, they couldn't let him go. It would cause outrage and chaos; despite his actions being heinous they were to protect the Alliance from scrutiny that would destroy it.

The Council will have everyone's heads for this, they had the influence and pull to make the Alliance nothing but a memory. There was no telling what kind of damage they could do, they have done it before to other races that have displeased them. People acted like it was their fault and made them out to be pariahs or mongrels, but in truth the Council made it look like that.

The Krogan people could understand, the Quarians not so much.

"You will do as ordered, all of you are on the chopping block right now and if we do not have someone take the hit you all are at risk." Ines replied.

"We lose you, we may weaken ourselves further, the Navy has been suffering for the last three decades. If you leave there is no telling how much more it could." Hackett reasoned.

This man had leverage and pull in the government that allowed him to keep the Navy as it is, a bit disheveled and undermanned but still functional. If he left there was no telling how much they would suffer for it, not only in keeping their positions but also the stability of the Fleet and its manpower.

"You will all do alright, just make sure to keep your heads down and make the Council realize we are not at fault here." Ines replied. "This project of ours is shut down. But the new one is to determine who these guys are, and what they want."

* * *

 **There you have it, hope you liked it.**

Reviews:

A thank you all who reviewed: **Krazyfanfiction1, Terror of Death Skieth, Guest #2, Guest #3, Jake Wolf, Jace Cither, Lotheon, MattKennedy, DesmondMiles-TheMasterAssassin, Lican, Guest #4, Struggle is Real, beta-reader, Law77, The Hero named Villan, Accursius, Guest #5, lazylegionspark, syjiko, bardshark, Nexagelion, Rake1810, WhoFeedYasuo, Uchiha Rai, Rythik74, Star, T-B-R, LL, JJN37, Rhavis, Guest #7, silentstrixe, Webb360, hollowichigo12, Wyrmcraft, Ahlerot, Night Shadow76, Winged Serpent of Light, Inverness, edboy4926, Tiggz, Ghost024.**

 **Jmspikey** : Well, now you can tell me just how bad you feel for those poor pirates now.

 **Guest #1** : This is because in order to interact with these worlds they need to condense their spiritual matter and that is what makes them visible. It is like how the Heroic Spirits in Fate/Stay Night astralize, this is the same but in reverse. Where they materialize to interact with the world around them.

Yeah, and it is going to blow up in their faces.

 **Helkil** : Okay, no problem.

 **Six Samurai of Dragon Order** : That is something I am working on right now.

 **Mandalore the Freedom** : Yoruichi is still around. And thank you for the praise.

 **Ichi-Peachy** : Glad you like it and yes, the Hollow will make an appearance along with many other things.

: Working on the chapter, half way done, tried to finish it but got writers blocks. Sorry. Will be next week I assure you.

 **Mangahero18** : Too each his own.

 **Tormound** : True, but because there isn't any spiritual energy or spiritual realms in these worlds they visit they need to materialize in order to remain alive. If they don't it would be like being in the vacuum of space, they would simply expand and explode everywhere. It is done more to survive than to just mess with humans.

 **Supreme Tempest** : Will get on that in time, trust me.

 **Alucard Bellsung** : Might make an omake about it one day.

 **Polarpwnage** : Yeah, I tend to not like those fics much. I mean if we have seen anything it is that there is an entire universe out there. What is to say that they all do not exist in the same conceptual universe as one another? I did that with all my stories. They all exist in the same conceptual universe and simply get stuck there.

 **Jigentou** : Glad you like it, I really did like that snippet I did as well it was probably the best work I have ever done. Truly I do not think I could match it to anything else and do anything better. It was perfect.

 **Guest #6** : That will come soon, I promise you. It will be revealed in pieces but there is a reason the Shinigami are doing what they are doing, and if you pay attention you will see that with every scene where the Shinigami speaks they will say something important, no matter how minute and unimportant it may seem.

 **LunarShadow 1906** : Glad you like it so much, Shinigami are an exceptionally powerful being that is for sure. And in the Mass Effect universe there are few things that could potentially match them in raw power.

Byakuya facing Cerberus, give me some time with that and I might work on an omake.

 **Shiva1** : Well the Illusive Man has always had lofty dreams and goals, this is no different. The Illusive Man didn't, that information wasn't transmitted and the files were fragmented because the console was damaged, because of this and the Alliance's interference much of the info did not get sent back to Cerberus.

It is not that they are helping out; it is that they are getting involved unintentionally; they have their duties and other things they are doing and are just getting caught up in the affairs of the mortals below. Also the reason they aren't hiding is because they cannot actually faze themselves out of sight otherwise they would actually die. They need to pull in their power and condense so much to prevent them from basically being taken apart in a hostile vacuum. Because there is no spiritual energy around or spirit realm on these planets they are technically walking in an environment that is space. So like a normal person exposed to space they simply expand and explode because there is nothing there to keep you from expanding outwards.

 **Guest #7** : There will be those that can damage them, but it will be later on. Also Komamura is part of what could be considered a pagan god sect on Earth. Basically he is the son of a patron animal god. Meaning that they predate the Shinigami, he is the son of one of these such gods.

 **There you have it, enjoy.**


	5. Chapter 5

**There we are, this is a big week for me as I am posting four chapters for everyone. This one was fun to do but a little tricky, had to really figure out what to do and how to do it. After all how do you get the reactions of the entire universe down, you go to the top and work your way down.**

 **But yeah, this is what I got and came up with and I assure you, the next chapter is going to be even more awesome as we are going to be delving into Mass Effect 1, ain't that awesome? But still hope you enjoy the chapter and like what is in it.**

 **Now the reviews are at the bottom. Also I will not be posting anything else until January, going to be relaxing over the Christmas break. So kudos. And have a Merry Christmas.**

* * *

 **Are We Alone**

 **Chapter 05: Schisms of Faith**

"Reports are still coming in as we learn of these shocking revelations…"

"The events upon Elysium, Akuze and Torfan had been grossly concealed to the public…"

"Possible human experimentation…"

"Your Excellency, what are your thoughts on the people believing that these beings to be actual angels and gods?"

"The Alliance has gone too far!"

"Take that! We proved gods exist, and they are on our side! Humanity all the way!"

"I was on Elysium, I saw him. He saved me…"

"It was a monster…"

"An Angel…"

"Demons, all of them!"

This went on across hundreds of different outlets; every single news station was on top of this story and running it. For the last two days it had been like this since the leak had been sprung, and it had been something that had engulfed the entire galaxy in a frenzy the likes that has never been seen before.

Within the first hour almost every news network had begun to release the story. In the next hour everyone had heard about it. Leaked videos, personal accounts and even confidential files had been leaked all across the Extranet for all to read. It had been hell for the Alliance, accusations had been the first thing that had been thrown around and now there was a shakedown.

Alliance Parliament was less than pleased with this revelation; it would seem that their nuts were on the chopping block with the Citadel Council being the bloody executioner. In fact that execution was still going down, they had conducted multiple inquiries and sessions simply to bring to light every little detail the Alliance had hidden from them. Forgoing every other political matter to solely focus on this and bring it to light and expose everything the Alliance had done.

They were pissed, more pissed than ever before. And they were making it known by not only whipping their newest and favorite race, but also sodomizing them publicly. It had been brutal to see their former Commander of the Navy being dressed down and made to look like a criminal, even if he took it in stride, Hackett couldn't help but feel sorry for the man that has sacrificed himself for them.

"Bad isn't it?" Anderson said.

Hackett looked up from his scotch towards the Captain and nodded, there was no other way to put it, aside from catastrophic. The only thing to make this the worst day for the Alliance is if the damn apocalypse happened right now, and that would not stop the hellfire the Council was pouring on them.

"You have no idea, we will mostly be untouched, but the Council is demanding that we stop all military production of any kind. They do not want us doing anything related to the military. No recruitment, not even damn training." Hackett said, taking a large gulp of his drink and glaring darkly at the hundreds of feeds that were coming in over his Omni-tool screen.

"You're serious?" Anderson asked, sounding horrified at the demand and the possibility that it could be done.

Parliament was in a dangerous situation, with this kind of pressure not only from the Citadel Council but almost every single racial government in the damn Galaxy they were under a tight leash. Any sort of infraction, no matter how minor, they would jump on it and turn it into a gaping wound that they would pour uranium into. They were being that vindictive about this, and technically he couldn't blame them.

"I am, they don't want us having these things running around. So they keep a close eye on every single military group we got and make sure we behave." Hackett said. "Sad part is these guys are not ours, and I can safely say we are in the clear so long as no one does anything stupid."

That was wishful thinking, if they don't appear in the next hundred years they may be in the clear, if not, than they will be utterly screwed. The council will hang this over their heads for the rest of their existence, no matter how implausible it is.

"That may be hard, before I came here I heard about Blackwatch and STG agents looking into our different projects and development programs," Anderson said, his voice low but none the less grave. "They found a link with Cerberus, apparently some of them were operating as fronts for their research."

"Why wasn't I informed of this?" Hackett barked, looking at Anderson sharply, he had not heard about these searches, let alone about Cerberus operatives.

"This happened yesterday, and I only heard about it now. With the military wing of the Alliance basically being watched communication is all but non-existent. And that is what I think they want, us being unable to defend ourselves as they look for clues." Anderson responded.

"My office has been bugged, I don't know if yours has or not, that is why I asked you to come here." Anderson said.

Hackett looked around to see that the entire bar was basically deserted, too damn early for patrons really. It was good for them though, this was a safe place to hang out and talk without the risk of people eavesdropping, and no way that the Council had humans in their pocket. Humans were on the shit list of every single alien race there was now. Probably more hated than the Krogan and Quarian's combined.

"Yeah, those listening to us talk about this cover up will more than likely see to it we are court marshaled. Especially if the Prime Minister wants to save face and get the human race out of the gutter." Hackett said, taking another swing of the glass and drowning the last of his scotch and giving a hiss as it settled in his stomach.

"He is in deep trouble, the Council is calling for him to cooperate or they are threatening to dissolve the Embassy and also cut off trade all together." Anderson said.

"That would be bad." Hackett said, agreeing with the assessment fully.

If the last two days had been bad, the loss of trade would end with the total collapse of the System Alliance economy and government overnight. Everything would simply stop and then the chaos would begin, they were too far integrated into the Galaxy's infrastructure that if they tried to pull out or were pushed out they would simply collapse from the financial strain.

"You think the Asari will do it?" Hackett inquired, he was never much of a people person, that was more Anderson's thing.

But the fact that despite the Asari proclaiming themselves to be very wise and kind, often showing off their wisdom and kindness to the universe and allowing for integrations. They were just as ruthless when the time came, you don't become as old and long lives as them if you do not defend yourself. The Asari were just as dangerous as anyone, possibly even as dangerous as the Krogan.

"Their scared, most of their people are worried that with the appearance of these beings that the Alliance will try to strong arm them. With how we first came onto the Galactic scene and how we integrated into it, that is no surprise. Some think we are trying to set ourselves up as a major player now, maybe even a dominant race and government." Anderson said.

"The Asari really believe that?" Hackett said, he had expected that the diplomatic Asari would not be so cold in response to this.

Guess he was right, ruthlessness and mercy come hand in hand.

"Their afraid, everyone is, we just witnessed something as close to a god as we can get and people are scared." Anderson said. "The only ones not afraid are humans, and they are going about this a whole lot differently."

"I know, some people are starting to think god exists now." Hackett said, shaking his head at the thought.

If god did exist, he wouldn't have sent this sort of bad luck their way. But it made him wonder what made them decide that they needed to come down and play with the hopeless mortals. After all, you don't get beings like this appear for no reason.

"It doesn't matter, all that matters is that we weather this storm as best we can." Anderson replied.

"That is going to be the hard part, and I can promise you, after the storm passes. I don't think there will be much left to save." Hackett grimly declared.

* * *

 **Citadel, Council Chambers**

The Chamber was abuzz with activity; the many promenades that lined the room were littered with reporters and people wanting to watch. This may have been the third day of the long hearing and testimonies, but this day was one of the most important.

Former Admiral Ines Lindholm would be formally prosecuted and sentence to prison for his crimes in this conspiracy against the Alliance and the Citadel Council. He would face Universal Law. But for the last few minutes of the hearing the man had been less than cooperative.

"Ines Lindholm, we have been through this for two days, you have admitted to the conspiracy to hide the existence of these humans…" Tavos started,

"They are not human." Ines interjected calmly.

He looked ragged; he was tired and deprived of sleep and often food. His accommodations on the Citadel had been less than pleasant and likely done so in order to make him more compliant to the Council when they question him. Sadly he was a soldier and had been through more shit than these pansies in Blackwatch could throw at him.

"Enough of this stalling!" Sparatus roared, clearing more vexed than the other two Councilors, but not by much.

"I am not stalling, just getting the facts straight." Ines replied.

He had to repress a smirk, he may be acting childish in the way he was handling this, but he was practically a dead man already. As soon as this was all over he would be locked up for the remainder of his life simply to appease the Council. Didn't mean he could have a little bit of fun before that happened, his last hurrah.

"Lindholm, these five individuals here." Valern said, gesturing to a screen of five images.

Each imaged showed off five of the faces of the individuals that had been shown throughout the case as humans that have undergone genetic engineering. But they have gone by many other names. The Guardian of Elysium, The Angel of Akuze, the War God of Torfan. These three were the big hitters with the middle one being the only one not seen completely but appeared to be a young girl.

Each of them had become legends in their own rights, a savior, a avenger and a monster. While the rest were that handsome guy and the monster's kid, not very original but they haven't done much other than look stoic and ask for candy.

"Each and every single one of them is human in appearance, and appears to be all of Asian descent as well as using Japanese as their spoken language. Proof, irrefutable proof, that not only they are from Earth, the Human race but are fluent in one of its languages. Yet you continue to deny they are human." Valern replied, crossing his arms and appearing annoyed. "There is no point in denying this, you must admit to this and confirm that the Alliance has manufactured these entities."

"I cannot confirm that, because the fact they came from nowhere and possess abilities that simply are scientifically impossible only proves that they are beyond the capabilities to create through engineering or not." Ines replied.

He would never admit to such a moronic accusation, them creating these things? That is a joke that isn't even remotely funny. These things were beyond science and understanding; they had abilities and powers that could only exist in comic books.

They were able to clock the one named Ichigo to be able to move at speeds close to Mach eighty three, and that is what they could detect. If he can move that fast without getting his skin torn off than there was no way he could be even remotely human. There are limits to things, and the fact these guys defied all expectations only proves just how impossible they were.

"Then how do you propose that they came to be? That they are spirits? Gods! I do not believe for a moment that the Alliance or you were unaware of these things!" Sparatus yelled, pointing an accusatory talon towards the former Admiral. "They are test subjects and individuals that have been experimented upon, you will reveal all now and admit to your crimes!"

"Doesn't matter what you think. All that matters is the truth, that there is no means that the Alliance could have created these entities and no matter how much you push to prove it, you will not get the answer you want." Ines replied.

"Ines Lindholm, if you continue this I will be forced to hold you in contempt for the law. If you cooperate and stop this equivocating we would greatly appreciate it." Tevos said, appearing to try and offer a plea out of this.

He looked at her for a moment, was she actually trying to bride him into lying? That was damn cute, because he would sooner take a bullet to the brain before lying in order to save his own skin.

"I am not delaying, I am simply reaffirming the details that you keep forgetting." Ines replied, and this time he could help but let a ghost of a smile appear on his face as the three fumed at his stubbornness.

* * *

 _Three Hours Later_

* * *

"This is an outrage!" Sparatus yelled. "We should have continued, the fact we sentenced him not answering our questions is heinous, he should have been made to admit to the crimes!"

"We have little proof, and even little information on these five. Their names are not in the registry, not even in the last fifty years. Not even in the last one hundred." Valern replied.

Reports from the STG and Blackwatch had turned up almost nothing on these beings other than what they already know. Odder is the fact all information the Alliance had only dated back to about three days after the Battle of Elysium. That meant the Alliance was not lying in not knowing about these people.

Yet the fact that these entities exist only made it frightening that the Alliance may have had no control over them. If that was true than they were in grave danger, depending on their allegiances they could potentially be a major threat to Citadel control over the galaxy.

"He is correct; we have no proof that these humans were created by the System Alliance or any group within human control." Tevos said, although she was not happy about that.

As much as she was a mediator for the Council she could not help but feel this was a move by the Alliance to exert control. With recent findings of a rogue paramilitary group within the Alliance, she had no doubt that they wished to make humanity a dominant species. If this was a show of power by either the Alliance of this Cerberus she along with the rest of the Council will need to remind the human race where they stand.

With their actions within the Skyllian Verge, their raids against pirates and other Terminus forces, has causes a lot of tension. Something the Council could not handle at the moment, with the Batarian's shouting and making demands and the System Alliance on the other end. They were acting on their own and outside of the Council's approval, something that they did not like.

It would seem that they have been too lenient in the last few years with them.

"We could still use this to our advantage. The human race has been getting quite uppity in their approach and maybe a little humility would be prudent. It is best we start taking some stricter measures in terms of their involvement with the galactic community." Tevos suggested.

The System Alliance has been given a good deal of freedom since their inclusion in galactic politics, but maybe it was time that changed. They had been quite headstrong and moving very fast in their goals, which she could see now were very large. Maybe it was time that they be chained and made sure that they did not get too far ahead of themselves.

"I propose we halt all ship and military movement through our space, along with limiting ship numbers and movement on their outer colonies. We cannot risk them having a sizable fleet on their borders, if they plan to expand; we need to make sure they do not do anything." Sparatus said.

"This would cause problems; the outer colonies of Alliance Space are in greater danger to pirate attacks. We need to make sure our actions do not cause a reprisal, there is only so much that the Alliance will take before they start moving against our wishes." Valern warned.

"They wouldn't dare, if they do we can always cut off trade and aid, they need us more than we need them." Tevos replied.

"Do not be too sure, the Alliance being reprimanded like this would also cause untold strife in Council Space as well. If humans are put under scrutiny by the other races, we may have something similar to the Quarian discrimination campaign that happened three hundred years ago." Valern warned.

That was something they did not want, the Quarian Discrimination Campaign was a series of political and cultural attacks on the Quarian race for the creation of the Geth. This led to the people slandering their race and often making them out to be criminals, and led to many deaths and division among the Citadel races on how to deal with them. None of it was pleasant and is still felt even today.

"The humans should be given the treatment they deserve, they are responsible for this." Sparatus replied.

"Yes, but the difference is that they have the army, and potentially engineered force capable of wiping us out with no effort at all. Do not get ahead of yourselves." Valern said, taking on the odd diplomatic mantle in this meeting. "We press too hard they will snap and strike, we keep them to the ground and leave just enough room for them to breathe and become docile. We do not act aggressive in this, we play it slow and calmly, and in the end we will have someone that we can control and thinks we are being kind rather than tyrannical."

Tevos had to admit it would be the smarter way to go, if they did press to hard the Alliance may retaliate for unfair treatment towards their race. That was something she would need to account for in the next few meetings they have with their governments. They will need to nip this in the butt soon; otherwise the Alliance may make another move.

* * *

 **Arcturus Station**

Hackett glared at the STG agent in front of him, he was not in the mood for the bullshit right now. But what he was being told was far from pleasant, not two days after Ines Lindholme's sentencing and his life imprisonment, he had been given orders.

Order from the Citadel Council, who was still instigating a navy disarmament as well as army distribution halts. All Dreadnaughts were to be rendered inactive and all capital ships were to remain near the home world. While all military forces were not permitted to leave the ground under any circumstances, unless cleared by the new Council administration currently running oversight on the Alliance military and Government.

"This is a joke, you expect me to follow these orders?" Hackett said, tossing the report aside and glaring at the Salarian.

"You have no choice, if you do not follow this you will be found in contempt." The STG Captain replied.

"I have every right to be, this entire thing is a farce, and you are only doing this to piss us off because we did it to you." Hackett replied.

"If you have anything to say, I advise you take it up with the administration, they will surely take your words at some value." The Captain responded, moving for the door and stepping out as it opened, only waiting for a moment to give a final warning. "I would advise you follow this, you may end up like Lindholme."

"Careful, you may have that little leash of yours, but if you step too far out of line we will make our discomfort known, and you will not like that." Hackett said, shutting the doors before the Salarian could respond.

He slumped into his chair; he could not believe what was going to be happening with the System Alliance now. It was being chained down and controlled, like a dog that was to be trained and taught to heel at command.

The Council was taking away all their freedoms, anything government or military was being shaken down and forced to comply. Ships being grounded and projects halted, no matter what research was being done they ended it cold. They were being choked ever so slowly, rather than a quick strangulation, this was them being suffocated slowly.

If this continued the entire System Alliance would fall apart within months, their strength would crumble and then they would be left helpless and vulnerable. It would be the very end of them all, they would crumble and be left with nothing but the ruins of their once great culture that had been turned to dust by the Council and their paranoia.

"Like hell." Hackett growled.

He wouldn't allow the borders of Alliance space to be undefended by their own ships, left to be protected by a flimsy force of Turian ships. Having oversight in so many different projects and facilities that risk of exposure and revealing of classified material was extensive. Keeping people trapped on different worlds, military and civilian alike, policing everything within their own space.

He would not allow that.

Ines Lindholme sacrificed himself so the Alliance could stand tall, and Hackett would make sure that happened, because he wouldn't let the Citadel Council get their way. That meant laying down and waiting to die, and he intended to rise back up stronger than before.

"Tyresa." Hackett said, watching the VI appear briefly on his desk. "Get me a secure line, I need to contact a few people. Set up feedback jammers, I do not want anyone sneaking in."

"Who do you wish to contact?" Tyresa asked.

"Everyone in my contacts lists, under Associates and Favors." Hackett replied, glaring ahead of him, he would change this, no matter how many rock he had to turn over and how many politicians he needed to piss off.

* * *

Jessica ducked under the swing before deliver two quick jabs to the ribs and then a third to the stomach, staggering her opponent who sagged from the hits. She followed up with a quick jab to the jaw and sent him to the floor; he hit the ground hard, on his hands and knees while in a daze.

She turned and leaned back as another man attacked her, as she quickly began to backpedal she weighed her options before attacking. Stepping forward into his wide punch and blocked with both her forearms, she felt her own jar from the hit but she carried on. Twisting on her heels she sent an elbow jab to his head.

But her elbow was caught by his palm and then it snaked down her arm, grasping her wrist and pulling it behind her back. His other arm snapped under her left arm and armpit, wrapping around her neck and placing her in a chokehold. A curse escaped her lips, but it appeared more like a gurgle, as she had her arms restrained completely.

Jessica looked ahead to see her second opponent was getting back up and looking ready to capitalize on her incapacitated state. Shepard quickly worked out a way to try and escape, pulling her leg behind her captors own limb she roughly pulled it out from under him and pushed back. They both fell to the ground, as he hit the ground Shepard shot her head back three times, feeling the painful contact of the back of her skull with the front of his nose.

As his grip loosened she looked up to see the man above her, he planted his foot onto her chest and pressed her back down onto her former captor. Now returning to being her captor, his arm wrapped around her throat again and began to choke. She tried to free herself but it was no good, he had her too tightly.

Shepard looked to the foot still on her chest and decided she needed it gone, and a quick jab to the side of the knee did that as the man was sent to the ground. A scream escaped his mouth as he dealt with the painful blow, the side of the knee was very vulnerable and if hit hard enough it could snap. Luckily for him she had only given it a nice love tap.

Raising her arm she jabbed her elbow into the side of her captor several times, forcing his grip to slacken before she raised her head and swung it back again. A crunch was heard, likely the guys nose breaking, before she turned to face him and gave a quick punch to the jaw for good measure. And like that he was out like a light, she smirked for a moment before she felt something jab into her side and sent her tumbling.

"Dammit." Shepard growled, holding her side, that was going to bruise in the morning.

She turned to the second man; he was back on his feet and limping slightly. He was the only one she had to worry about now. She got to a knee as he rushed her, sending quick kick to her head. She raised her arms and caught it, pulling hard she dragged him off his foot and to the ground. Leaping up and then onto the man, she drove her knee into his stomach and then delivered a quick punch to the face.

She followed up with three more strikes, ignoring the pain in her knuckles; she delivered one final strike and left the man below to go limp. With a heavy breath she rolled off the unconscious man and onto her back, she was panting and it had been a long and hard fight.

A buzzer sounded, and the lights came on.

Around her were standing about two dozen other recruits, all of them part of the N5 programs. Shepard looked over to the right to see someone walk onto the training floor.

"Not bad, taking on two other recruits like that might have to get you into the N6 after this." Makkai Zombor said, despite his words they didn't seem all that kind in terms of giving praise.

It was always rough and sounded irritated with anything and everything, which made it hard to determine if he was being sincere rather than aggressive.

"Thank you… sir…" Shepard replied, breathlessly lifting herself up off the mat.

She looked over to see that the medics were already treating Sergeant Rinat Averyanov, one of her fellow recruits and a friend. The guy had a lot of muscle on him, and was a bastard to put down, but that didn't stop her. It was always a game of theirs, to see who could take down the other the most, the score was eighty three to fifty six, in her favor.

"Alright listen up, with recent administrative changes, meaning a bunch of fucking aliens deciding that the human race doesn't know how to run itself, we are likely not going to be carrying on to the N6 program." Makkai stated addressing every single recruit.

They were nearing the end of their training in the N5 program; they had basically been brushing up on everything they had learned. But now their futures would be set, being a N5 would elevate them far in the Alliance military. But the sad part is that the navy had its balls in a vice.

Shepard got to her feet and walked back in line, her side was likely bruised and blue, and she was certain she had a black eyes. Ignoring this she had to listen to what he instructor said, it was regarding their futures as soldiers. As well as their chances of going on to N6, if that was the case she could complete her training and finally become an N7.

If they were given the chance.

With the way the Alliance was handling this crisis it was not going well for them, especially with the Council breathing down their necks. Hell the entire N-School had nearly been shut down had it not been for Admiral Hackett pulling the strings and basically flipping the bird to the Council. She had to love that man, he is the reason she even got into the damn ICT in the first place.

"But fuck them! We got ourselves a nice little mission near the outer colonies, pirates. Lots of them!" Makkai said aloud. "We will be leading an assault there in two weeks, anyone who wants to get into the next class sign up now. Because there will be no other chance for a long fucking while."

Shepard smirked slightly, almost invisible; it would seem that Hackett was working his magic again. With the way they were shaking down navy ships and preventing them from carrying out patrols between planets. It was a miracle that he was able to even make sure that they could move between planets.

"Dismissed, and congratulations, these last few months have been hell on you all. For those that survived it, you will do the Alliance proud." Makkai said, turning and moving out with the rest of the staff.

Shepard followed the rest of her fellow trainees out, planning on getting to her room and having a quick shower before hitting the cafeteria for a quick mean. She had to get ready for the op, it may be two weeks away but she wasn't going to miss her chance to get onto the team.

A quick trip through the training facility and she would be at her quarters, passing the window to look at the alien jungle outside the viewing port. It was one of the most dangerous training locations in the entirety of Alliance space. All kinds of creatures lurked within, almost all of them think a human is like a lobster dinner, and it was exciting. You do not train Special Forces soldiers with a simple hike, you make them run through the danger and make them learn to spot the bad things around them.

It was kind of weird, sending people into danger so they don't die later. Weird, but none the less, interesting.

"Just have to pass the N6, and then I am an N7." Shepard said to herself, entering her room and quickly disrobing.

It had been a hard and painful four years for her, getting into this school along with the way the Alliance was handling the situation with these super powered warriors had not been easy. She was actually lucky to not have taken any flack, publically anyway. After the news of these guys, currently dubbed Phantoms by the Alliance, she had her Star of Terra confiscated and shamed for her willingness in this conspiracy.

But she had been lucky, she was already in the N-School when the thing dropped and she was too deep in to throw out. They couldn't wash her out because she was doing too well, and that is what she wanted. The star she didn't care about, the praise or the ridicule, all she cared about was making the life she had worth it. She was not saved on that planet because she had a good and fulfilled life.

"My life was shit before you saved me," Shepard said aloud, the water running down her back. "Now I am going to repay that by making it actually worth a damn."

Call it repaying someone for doing a good thing, or her cliche idea of starting a better life, but she wanted this more than anything.

Jessica had enough of being some street punk that just got by surviving, she intended to make something of herself and be more than what she was. Being an N7 is only the beginning for her, she wanted her life to matter, to actually mean something more than just being a soldier. She wanted to do what he did, make a difference where it mattered, to show that what he had done can be done by others.

"Don't know how you did it, but you changed me." Turning the shower off and walking into her small room.

A single bed with a trunk at the end, it held all her possessions aside from one that sat on the bedside cabinet. She looked at it and held her gaze with the brown eyes within the photo, a holo-still image of the Guardian of Elysium, Ichigo, the scowling face of the man could be seen there. The only image that could be seen of him.

But she remembered another face, one that had been there to save her in her time of greatest need. She smiled at that, she had no idea how he did it with only a few words and a single touch, but he changed her. Made everything better.

"Preferred it when he smile, he's a lot cuter." Shepard said, pulling down her tank top as she moved for the door, she was starving and wanted to get her dinner in and then get in at least an hour of sleep before they go through the drills again.

* * *

"We have lost Projects Ascension and Project Trap Door, with the Council interference we have lost valuable data and personnel." Miranda said, looking at The Illusive Man who sat in his chair.

The last few months had been hard for Cerberus, hiding within the Alliance ranks was no longer working for them. They had been losing projects and groups in rapid number and it was beginning to tie back to the organization as a whole. Even with each cell lost they were still losing people fast. Soon enough they would lose everything else.

"Yes, that is troubling, but we need to deal with this in a way that we haven't before. We need to go dark for a while." The Illusive Man said.

"The Council will expect that, they will know we are just hiding and they will wait. They are using our existence as further motive to keep the Alliance in check. If we do not do something Humanity could become an endangered species." Miranda pressed.

"I am well aware, which is why we need to make some sacrifices," The Illusive Man said, taking a drag of his cigarette before placing it down into the tray. "The Council, as you said, will not stop hounding us until they sink their claws into something that they want. Luckily I have a way to appease that appetite."

Miranda looked at him for a moment, her mind going into overdrive to see if she could figure out what he was planning. Then it hit her, and that same smile she always had played on her lips.

"The Erebus Protocol." Miranda said, crossing her arms and smirking. "You are going to sacrifice part of Cerberus in order to save the rest."

The Erebus Protocol was a special directive that could only be carried out in the event the organization had been breached by outside forces. This included the Alliance of Council, and that the only way to survive is to sacrifice a large portion of their organization.

It involved sacrificing several cells and leaving them to be found and destroyed, this also included setting up a false leadership group that would take the fall of the organization. When they split these cells off the rest of Cerberus would go dark, hiding for as long as possible until the Council lost track of them or the cells were all destroyed. After that they would restart their operations and get back to work on their main objective.

"You are certain we should resort to that though? After all Directive Black Sun seemed more…" Miranda said, but he cut her off with a swipe of his hand.

"No, we are not initiating Black Sun, we have too much going on to allow the entire organization to go dark and scattered. We need to remain mobile and be able to reform at a moment's notice; we have too much riding on this to scatter ourselves to the furthest reaches of the galaxy." The Illusive Man said.

"You are still trying to locate these anomalies?" Miranda asked.

Those unknown warriors from Torfan, Elysium and Akuze had taken his interest and attention more than anything else. He wanted to know everything there was about them, what data could be found was limited and much was extrapolated by their scientists. They couldn't make heads or tails of it.

"They are the key to this, if we find them we have something that the entirety of Humanity can rally behind." The Illusive Man said.

"It is unlikely they will just join us, they seem to have their own agenda." Miranda said.

"True, but luckily when we return, we may become a much more potent force than before." The Illusive Man replied. "For either way, we will become stronger than ever before."

He smirked slightly, the Council thought that they could keep humanity in line by stepping on them and showing a strong hand to put them down. But in truth all they doing was driving the deep hatred of man towards them, and when they were ready Cerberus will be there to offer the aid the people need. Their numbers and forces will grow, and soon the Council will realize just how much of an enemy they have made.

* * *

"Well, this is bad." Kyoraku said, looking at the assembled group in his office, close to twenty of them were here and they shared the same feeling as he.

In his hand was a report regarding the developments in the World of the Living and the galaxy at large, and all of it was not good. Most of it was basically the existence of them causing a stir, especially Kenpachi and Ichigo; those two really had made a riot.

"No kidding. The humans are worshiping us now, haven't seen anything like that in nearly fifteen hundred years." Ukitake said, a little surprised as he glanced over Kyoraku's shoulder to read over the report of several churches rising up to actually worship Ichigo as some kind of savior and god.

"I cannot believe this?" Ichigo growled out, to think these guys would go so far to venerate him, in a way he was annoying rather than gratifying.

Also since he came back the Captains had been giving him grief for going off on his own and doing that, he went against the rules in a big way. The only reason he wasn't severely reprimanded was because of his close ties to the Nobles Houses and also because Ichibei Hyosobe prevented any punishment being handed down.

Even so they were basically glaring holes in the back of his head all the time and telling him he fucked up.

"Hey, says here that they are even making a cartoon!" Kyoraku said, pointing at something in the report. "Aw hell, he is going to be a ladies man too! Says he is getting a harem!"

"What!?"

"Just kidding," Kyoraku replied, smiling in a goofy manner as he glanced at the former Substitute and now Captain. "But look at it this way, any publicity is good right?"

But even with that reassurance the orange haired young man couldn't help but slump in defeat. He had not thought that this would transpire, obvious from the fact his shoulder had fallen, along with several annoyed stares he was getting from the people in the room. It was obvious that his actions were the start of all this, even if it was likely going to happen eventually had he intervened or not.

"God dammit, why didn't I cover my face or something?" Ichigo said, his head falling into his hand as he realized how big a fuck up he had made.

That misery did not last long before he was quickly knocked across the room with a boot to the head, sending him skidding along the floor before he hit the wall. The former substitute, now Captain of the Eighth Division, quickly jumped to his feet and glared at the attacker.

"Cover your face?" Rukia yelled, having grown slightly and actually seemed to be developing into a woman, something Ichigo had said about her being a late bloomer. "Why didn't you just not do anything!?"

"Really? What about you on Akuze? Snow Angel?" Ichigo asked, brushing off her accusation with one of his own, and making the female Captain glare angrily at him.

"I didn't know about the security cameras and you knew damn well that you would have been seen and caught! And you were, me on the other hand, I at least tried to cover my tracks!" Rukia yelled back, pointing an accusatory finger at her friend.

"Hey, we're past that now, no need to bring up anymore bad blood alright." Kyoraku replied, calming the situation before anything else came up. "Although, this is to be expected."

"Yes, with the fact that these planets are spiritually inept and in the process of actually forming spiritual realms of their own, we have no choice but to actually manifest there. I did warn you that this would have happened eventually." Mayuri stated.

"I know, I know. But still you should have accounted for these guys getting ahead of themselves." Kyoraku replied. "You are lucky that Central is not going further with this, they were not happy."

"Given what we are going against I can assume that is why we weren't punished?" Ichigo asked, crossing his arms and frowning seriously.

A quiet descended over the other captains as they looked at one another, there was a reason they had gone out into the void. It had actually been at first to collect the lost souls of those leaving earth and having them reinforce the Dangai and barrier between the worlds. But now they were up against something different.

"Yeah, but with what we are dealing with it is hard to track them down. Worse yet we do not even know if it is going after humans. For all we can determine the other races spiritual realms are different from our own. And we have no idea if the enemy is using their souls as well." Kyoraku said. "Might want to look into that, maybe we can find some other Soul Reapers out there."

They have been across the different worlds for nearly two decades now, and have yet to actually travel outside of System Alliance space. Mainly because setting up relays on these different worlds in tricky and the fact that they had to keep to spiritually active sites otherwise they couldn't manifest there.

Urahara has been helpful but he has not been able to move about much because of this ban on space travel, so their plan to expand into the rest of the Galaxy to search was becoming impossible. Also made them consider contacting any possible foreign alien Soul Societies in order to see about getting them to work together on this.

If they even existed.

"Based on what information we have they will be drawn to areas of conflict, I advise we use this chaos to our advantage in locating them." Mayuri responded.

"That is a lot of ground to cover, and also we have no idea about what they can do. Each of them is drawn to different sources; this has turned from looking for ripples in a pond to finding a needle in a haystack." Ukitake replied. "If they are separated it will be even more difficult to track them down."

"Yeah, but knowing these guys and from what Oshou said, they will come out in a flashy way. It is our duty to track them down and put them back into their cells, we cannot let them run free any longer." Kyoraku said. "All of you are being sent out, take with you teams of Shinigami and scour a planet, move quickly and efficiently, we will lose more if we allow them to act on their own terms."

With that the Captains and Lieutenants moved for the exit, filing out and planning on getting out into the field as soon as possible. Kyoraku sighed to himself; this had become a real chore for him, especially with the humans finding out about them. This had not happened in a long time, long before he was even born in fact.

"If the three of them get a foothold in the galaxy somewhere they can cause all kinds of damage." Urahara said, standing besides Yoruichi and Tessai, all three of them were very serious.

Even after the Blood War they had remained as mavericks doing as they pleased in the World of the Living. In fact Urahara owned a large series of stores on multiple worlds across the Galaxy and dealt in almost all forms of things. This had allowed them to move about freely across the Milky Way on their mission to collect human souls and slay hollows.

But still he had not been able to get his stores and relays everywhere, and that was costing them time and a large amount of unexplored ground to cover. This was even worse because the fact that what they were searching for was on the move.

"I know, as of this moment I need you three to continue the search." Kyoraku said.

"They have been loose for the last one hundred and eighty years, why act now?" Urahara asked.

"Don't know, but from what Oshou told me, these guys are bad news, worse than Yhwach." Kyoraku said. "I guess that is why he went into the Muken all those years ago, not for Aizen, but to let them out."

* * *

 **Reviews:**

 **I would like to thank the following:**

 **Extremeninja09, Beta-Reader, Law77, Guest #1, Edboy4926, Lord Sigfry, Reality Deviant, MattKennedy, BukkakeNoJutsu, Darthas, Krazyfanfiction1, Impstar, Six Samurai of Dragon Order, Struggle is Real, Feral Creature, Skepsis Forever, RohoSamurai, Blindluck92, Xenter, reallyfreakingnerdy, ultima-owner, Hollowichigo12, JJN37, Guest #3, Silentstrixe, sygiko, mad thought, star, TWILLINATOR, Kroz Phantomville, DareusX, Barkshark, DDS UziKazu, Creleuth, GodEmporer, Squadpunk 2.0, Shiroi no Ryusennin, Fleightfire, ZeroAcception, OoOXylionOoO.**

 **For their support and praise.**

 **Zrocker119** : I have plans for them to appear in time, yes.

 **Accursius** : Glad you liked it. Also to explain that you have to look at them solidifying their power over their bodies, basically they have to make space suits for themselves in order to survive. They compress their power around them not only to breathe but also interact with the world. If they didn't it would simply scatter their bodies across the vacuum of a reishi-less environment, kind of like a human exposed to space.

A normal soul in this situation can survive for a time, but eventually they will simply break apart into nothing. Basically they cease to exist, nothing but empty soul cores to be sent back to the Soul Society. It does drain their power as it is a conscious effort in order to keep them from being torn apart. So basically they will be concentrating on sustaining this barrier and also fighting, so it does tax them considerably.

 **Ghost024** : The memory whipping would take too long, and they do not have it in large supply to do it with everyone and also there is too much evidence left behind for them to cover their tracks effectively.

 **Guest #2** : That he is.

 **Guisniperman** : Glad you like it, and never doubt that one will turn up there eventually.

 **Rakaan** : They most certainly will be scared then.

 **Tashio** : The devices were not used mainly because of their recent ineffectiveness, and considering that they have recordings of her she could not risk them repairing or salvaging any info on the devices. She killed them to prevent anyone from collecting the data after it was damage from the servers. She tried to cover her tracks, knowing that simply erasing their memories would likely do nothing if they tried to recover some data.

The Shinigami are beings made up of pure reishi, basically a dimensional particle that doesn't exist in the normal universe. So they are akin to the ancients, and the forms they take are simple representations of their bodies. Even their blood is not real, just a representation of their bodies.

 **Bringer of the Morrow** : There is a reason the Shinigami do not chose to rule or interfere with humans, and it is a good reason. Kind of like a double edged sword.

 **PhoenixCorpse** : The Chain of Fate is basically a tether to the Reincarnation Cycle as well as their human bodies. The when the chain is severed from the body it is meant to move onto something else, but certain things can interfere with it and cause it to become attached to something else. As you see in the earlier Manga with the demi-hollow that had his chain attached to the hospital.

But with a soul, when it dies it immediately goes to the Soul Society, which is like a waiting station. After their soul does eventually expire they travel to the soul king and he transfers it through the Dangai back to earth. Since the Soul King is Yhwach's father and they share a commonality, it is my belief that the methods used by Yhwach to harness souls of Quincy are similar to how the Soul King does it for other humans. He places a portion of himself into humans and brings them within him and transfers them back through the cycle.

 **MadMaskJK** : You may.

 **Invisiblepoptart** : Look in awe at the awesome.

 **Correnhimself316** : Of course, he wouldn't be a badass if he couldn't. Also the reapers are an unknown to even them, and the things they are against are much worse.

 **There you have it, enjoy your Christmas break!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Here is the chapter, sorry for the long wait, but what can you do? But it is here so there is no need to get all fussy over everything. Now I got a lot of complaints about why the System Alliance allowed the Council to walk all over them, it is simple really.**

 **The System Alliance is an Ally of the Council and has integrated into their society and become a joint ally of theirs meaning that they have signed treaties and agreed to certain laws. Meaning that the Alliance cannot do certain things, development of genetic technology that is deemed illegal, A.I. Technology, and building of a certain number of Dreadnaughts and other ship classifications as well as having a specific quota on ship numbers.**

 **This is the Law, they have to follow it otherwise they are breaking it and if the Alliance is found to be harboring those who are suspected to be both genetic experiments and WMD's the Alliance has no choice but to comply. But the Council instated new laws to limit the Alliance that the System Alliance Parliament were foolish enough to agree to save face. But these laws were made to stop the Alliance from possibly creating super weapons and soldiers, and the Council does have a right to impose these laws and regulations on the Alliance if they prove a threat because they are technically part of the Council but not an official leading body in it.**

* * *

 **Are We Alone**

 **Chapter 06: The Tension Rises**

 **Arcturus Station**

Hackett sighed, he knew that this day was coming for him, but he had hoped it would have been a long time down the road, when he would retire and not have to deal with this shit ever again. Politics in the military were annoying as it is, but dealing with those in the government was even more tiresome. Usually because they never got anywhere, they talk but never follow through unless it benefited them.

But when you tried to do something right when getting involved, you get the attention of the wrong people. At this current moment he was dealing with three of those individuals and each of them were the three he did not want to bother with anymore.

"You cannot continue to resist these sanctions and official legislation we have put down, you are causing more issues to rise the longer you fight this," Tevos said, scowling noticeably as she lectured Hackett, annoying him because she thought she could lecture him like a child.

"Really, because as far as I am aware I haven't done a damn thing but my job, and followed these sanctions of yours without a complaint," Hackett replied, touching the brim of his hat and pulling it over his eyes. 'I am willing to bet that pisses you off.'

He would have liked to add that, but sometimes things best left unsaid were better than saying anything at all. The Council had enough problems with him, didn't need to bring up anymore for him, at this moment they hated him for following the rules they set up but also going around them. It was really annoying them, something he took immense pleasure in, and he had no intention of letting up.

"You have actively made Fleet movements and patrols outside of our authorization," Sparatus said, but it was more likely a growl with how his opinion on humanity has turned up in the last few years. "You have sent the Second and Third Fleets out on patrols along the borders without authorization from us or the delegation fleets we have in place."

"Yes, but that was done to compensate for the severe lack of resources you have provided us, in the event that the Council is unable to secure the borders the System Alliance is permitted to protect them, that was part of the Treaty of Farixen as well. Under that clause we are fit to protect our own systems where you are not able to," Hackett replied.

The loopholes he had found were good, and since the Council put them up so quickly to get on top of the Alliance there were a few places they could exploit. They were hastily made and therefore not officially sanctions and could not override other treaties and agreements made beforehand and could be exploited unless stated otherwise.

There was no way the Citadel Council could patrol their entire system, and while they could stop any System Alliance Fleet when they made movements towards the borders and withhold them for moving in large numbers. But they couldn't stop those Fleets if they were standard patrols with only light cruisers and possessed no capital ships, a law that was part of the Council Treaty signed during the end of the First Contact War and only applicable in Council Space.

"Just because you split them up doesn't mean that you haven't moved their entire force along the borders and outer colonies, that is reason for concern," Tevos replied.

"I won't doubt that, but as you are aware no ship is allowed within a certain distance of those borders, and those Fleets are only maintaining patrols within adjacent systems to those borders and the planets we have under our jurisdiction, we haven't made any aggressive move here, only defense," Hackett replied.

The Council had tried to prevent any sizable force from moving towards the borders or between planets and systems, but so long as those fleets kept a certain distance from those borders and with small numbers it did not matter. He used this to smuggle most of the Fleets to the outer reaches of their Space in order to protect the borders, a play the Council was pissed at.

But in truth they followed regulations to the letter, so they couldn't exactly call them up on it.

"You do realize that having two Fleets present along the borders is a problem for us," Valern replied. "Recent attacks have decreased along the borders, for such a sizable force to be present I see as unneeded."

"But considering that fact that these sanctions you have imposed have caused a severe decline in military presence near the outside colonies we are forced to shore up defenses in systems were the risk of attack is most likely," Hackett countered smoothly.

The Council also failed to prevent emergency action from being taken with certain Fleets, if a distress call was sent out they were able to send out forces to secure regions under attack. The Council couldn't stop this, and it allowed Hackett to get those Capital ships there without problem and maintain their positions in key systems to direct their forces over the entire border.

It was a nightmare dealing with the Council on this, trying to keep their military and navy under a lot of red tape. The reasons he could understand, easily, but the danger they were putting the System Alliance in was not getting them anything.

The Fleet restrictions made it difficult to get soldiers off world and on rotations, meaning that certain planets have had marines stuck groundside for a year or two longer than intended. It was causing stagnation in command and troop movements, in fact aside for the Fleet Hackett was able to move their main army reserves couldn't be placed groundside for the fear of them being trapped there if there was a recall for the ships.

The Council had put their entire military in the ringer; their only defense left was their Navy that was scattered along the border systems they controlled. While the other Fleets were mostly grounded, unable to leave port for any reason, it was a miracle they could have any fleets on the move. Mainly because the Treaty of Farixen, while it mainly dealt with the limitations of Dreadnoughts within a fleet it also played a part in restrictions on limiting fleets. It meant that a race cannot be permanently disarmament of all their navy and military so to keep up defense and protection of their territory and space.

They had a limit to ship sizes and classifications and also how many ships are permitted, that was based on classifications and also territory size. While the System Alliance boasted a massive territory they were limited to how many specific crafts could be created and the concentrations of fleets within proximity of one another unless emergencies were required.

It was the only thing they could use to prevent the Council from enforcing some of their more unpleasant demands.

"We understand that, but we have offered Fleet assistance in protecting these locations," Tevos stated.

"That you have, but they are so small in number that the gaps in the defense are poor, while the main areas you tend to guard on the edges of Council and Alliance space, while the borders of the Traverse and Batarian's territory are left heavily undermanned. Some would call that protecting your own interests," Hackett replied.

"Careful Admiral, one man already lost his position and livelihood because of his stubbornness, and foolishness," Sparatus warned.

"He lost it because you strong-armed our government to handing him over to you rather than letting us charge him, you made it personal when you took one of our own and charged him with treason and had him locked away," Hackett replied.

"You hid secrets from us, things that we were surprised to find about you, and what your government and military was hiding," Sparatus replied.

Hackett knew he was referring to Cerberus and likely other rogue elements within their military and government, understandable. But still the fact these issues had been cleared up and dealt with only made this matter all the more frustrating. They had been dealt with and were no longer an issue, but the Council continued to press them, looking for any excuse to continue this witch hunt.

"But none of those things rely on the intent of this, you did all this because of the anomalies, because of them you started this and you have found absolutely nothing to prove we made them, are working with them, or even know what they are," Hackett replied. "You can scream at us all you want and say we did it, but when the evidence shows the contrary, you just can't believe it."

Sparatus glared at him as his mandibles flared with irritation, that was completely and utterly true. Not a single shred of evidence existed that proved that the System Alliance knew or heard of the existence of these anomalies before the events of Elysium. They had no way to keep this charade up for any longer, if they continued they would be overstepping themselves and facing more than just unhappy humans.

Tevos sighed, placing a hand against her head and seemed to be in thought. Her usually guarded expression turned to one of fatigue, actually looking tired.

"I think we should cut with the political talks, and actually speak with some openness from this point," She said, surprising really that it came from her, usually the calm and stoic Ambassador couldn't be so easily forced to let go, but it seems she was as tired as she looked. "Admiral, you know why we are doing this, why it has to be done."

"I do, but as I have said there is no evidence to support why you are doing this, even with all your searching and snooping around you have done nothing but oppress the Alliance and made a bad image for yourself," Hackett replied.

"We know we are causing issues, but what happened has caused a great deal of worry across the entire galaxy," Valern said. "Entities that can wipe out armies and ships with ease, possessing powers and abilities that none could match and all of them appear human."

"Can you not see that this is an issue, we cannot allow you to roam freely with the chance that the System Alliance is responsible for creating these things," Sparatus replied.

"And while no evidence has turned up, we have found cause to be concerned with the fact there was a paramilitary terrorist group within your government and military, alongside several research fronts as well, a likely suspect in this, especially with the research they were conducting." Valern said.

"They are all dead and buried; you know this, so I suggest you stop it now. Because if you keep up with this tyrannical rule over us, we might eventually have enough of it and decide to rise up against our oppressors," Hackett replied.

He watched as the three stiffened at the bold threat, surprised likely more than afraid, before he saw their professional and imposing political facades return.

"Are you threatening us Admiral? Remember, we have already dealt with one traitor, do not instigate something you cannot win by yourself," Sparatus warned.

"Ines was made a traitor because you were pissed that he didn't reveal this information to you when it occurred, but if we did it anyway all that would have happened is you start this witch hunt of yours earlier and likely prevent us from securing our borders from further pirate attacks," Hackett replied. "We did it to make sure you didn't fuck up our territory because you didn't like the fact something you can't control came your way."

That was a very dangerous thing to say, it may be true and blunt, because as much as Hackett was right saying that made a nice big target on his back. As much as being in politics was about keeping a level head and choosing the right sides, when something personal comes along they take all that negative means out on you.

Now that he has pissed off the Council with his resistance and openly challenged them, more than likely they will make some threats.

"You do realize that any further acts of aggression on your part will result in action on our own, you are on thin ice right now Admiral, do not lose what little leverage you have left to challenge us," Tevos said. "We can make this very uncomfortable for you."

"I would take care with who you threaten, attacking another Admiral and further destabilizing the Alliance, you've already ruined enough lives with this and getting rid of me will only take away the one person keeping our species from doing something they would regret. But maybe you should do it, make the human race remember all that hate from the First Contact War and maybe it is a little too early to forgive," Hackett replied, a bold declaration, one promising war.

The three were silent as they took in the threat, one saying that if they kept pushing that they would be dealing with open warfare with the System Alliance. The three did not respond, instead they cut the connection, unwilling to give a reply to the threat from the Admiral.

He gave a snort of derision; they had been on their asses long enough now that most of the System Alliance Parliament was getting sick of them, no more ass kissing or buttering up, they wanted their rights back.

Apart from that most humans were taking actions in different ways, some actively supporting the anomalies and basically chanting their names in the streets. Clothing, toys, games and even a few shows had popped up with these guys in them, they were a hit and people loved them. Be it to piss off their alien oppressors or simple love for these guys, it did not matter, and they were getting attention.

Others had been bolder and risk dissolving most trade and cooperation with the Council races to spite them. But even those who didn't do it out of spite did it anyway to save what money they could before a possible sanction occurred that cut trade, turning to the Traverse and even Terminus for possible clients and customers.

To put it shortly, humanity was getting riled up with the Council looking over everyone's shoulders now.

'Only a matter of time now, before someone does something to spark this powder keg,' Hackett thought, he didn't know if he should be worried or not.

* * *

"That damn man thinks he can threaten us!" Sparatus yelled as the doors of their chambers closed.

Sparatus skulked towards the large bay window that sat on the far side of the room, taking up the entire wall and giving a clear view of the Citadel. The many blinking lights of the stations arms and the pulsing nebula's beyond in space did nothing to quell his outrage. Yet while within this room he could vent his frustrations rather than let them simmer and cool, he would release them with every roar as if they were fire.

"He declares open war, something like that cannot be tolerated!" Sparatus growled, whirling on his fellow Councilors, both of whom stood there relaxed and composed compared to their turian counterpart. "We must act now, before he can do anything, if we strip him of his position…"

"We cannot, this will not work," Tevos said, strolling to the window and looking over the arms of the Citadel before giving a sigh. "We were able to prosecute Admiral Ines Lindholm because his own government was also affected by this and he covered up a treasonous act on a galactic scale. But with Hackett, sadly that won't work, in fact it would only cause further issue."

"She is right, the Alliance as a whole is becoming much more aggressive with their opposition of our presence in their space and control over their government." Valern stated, hands behind his back and speaking most calmly of the three. "We did not plan this right, we were too hasty, and neither did we carry it out in a manner that reflected any calm, the Alliance is beginning to turn on us, and we sadly are responsible."

There was a silence for a moment; realizing creeping on that this entire endeavor of theirs would result in absolute chaos for them with nothing to show for it. They could do nothing without proof, and the Alliance had given them everything to show they were innocent and now that the evidence said so, they did not let go.

They held on too long and now they were causing problems within their own space, and also causing a massive political cloud to hang over their heads. Be they thundering is one thing, but when they strike down upon the Council for their actions they will know they have overstepped themselves. Their incursion and oversight of the Alliance was never meant to be this long, it should have only been a few months just to get what information they could.

But they kept lengthening it, hoping to gain something.

"This is affecting more than just the Alliance, trade has broken down between them and the Asari Republic because of some of the sanctions, we are actually losing a lot of trade with the System Alliance," Tevos said.

While the Asari provided a good deal of trade in the Galaxy it was still a major blow to them, eighteen percent of that trade was to humans and the System Alliance as a whole. That was trillions of credits of technology and work lost because of their actions, something the Council of Matriarchs were not pleased with.

Even if they had ordered these actions taken the repercussions on them was not what they wanted. But it had been placed on their heads for this massive delay and drawn out investigation that provided nothing to substantiate the loss and the level of repercussions they were facing from the human race.

"Word has it that they are now trading with those in the Traverse and Terminus instead," Valern said, glancing at his colleague and also aware that there has been a severe drop in trade with the Alliance as well.

"Along with dropping nearly all forms of trade and cooperation, I fear we may have turned the Alliance against us," Tevos said, knowing that the Alliance becoming neutral faction or even an enemy would be disastrous for the Citadel Council.

The System Alliance provided a stabilizing agent for them, because of the regions they occupy they created a natural buffer against the Batarian's and eastern section of the Galaxy. Because of this the space they occupied prevented the Batarian's from expanding out and building a sizable empire. It also prevented many attacks and aggressive acts on their part against Council Space.

But they also added a natural barrier for their Eastern borders, allowing for a sizable defense for their controlled space, but if the Alliance actually withdrew, the Council would have lost a great deal of territory and support. But also likely it could cause a political nightmare in the fact that losing the Alliance could be seen as a sign of weakness. If they pulled out and went about their own methods without the Council's approval, it would spell all kinds of chaos for them.

"Yes, we have been very hasty to find evidence against the Alliance, and sadly that has caused us to turn an ally into an enemy," Valern said, shaking his head and wondering how he got so caught up in this, possibly intrigue and knowledge of how the humans created such entities maybe, but it did not matter.

"We need to rectify this issue immediately, possibly rescinding several sanctions and allowing for trade and benefits," Tevos suggested, but even she doubted that, all it would do would make them more aggressive, feeding a snarling varrin was never a good idea. "If we show some faith maybe we can stem some damage and regain what we lost. Prove that they are innocent until proven otherwise."

"Innocent?" Sparatus growled.

"We have already proven otherwise with our actions, Terra Firma has taken this chance to make several stances against us and sadly they are taking, nothing we do can stem the damage. It is like dressing an infected wound, we cover up the dirty mess beneath and hope no one sees it," Valern replied, knowing such a tactic won't work.

Those human supremacists think that the Council is taking away all their rights and based on what they have been doing he cannot doubt that. The Council and their sanctions have quite literally halted all forms of freedom within the Alliance, all people of power have been called to submit and now those people want that freedom and power back.

"To hell with what they think, I refuse to believe that the System Alliance is innocent in this, they have appeared on multiple worlds, reports coming in of sightings on different planets as well, all of them human," Sparatus growled, knowing that these things could not be anything but Alliance soldiers.

The locations they struck, strategic and important events that had they not been involved it would have been a grim note in the System Alliance's history. They saved entire worlds and doomed them to aid the Alliance and the human race, appearing when disaster struck and ended major threats. How could it be anything but a plot by the Alliance?

"STG reports that it is actually civilians in cheap clothing, the Alliance is actually using this as a means to profit, selling merchandise in order to bring in some more credits," Valern replied.

It was to be expected really, the anomalies were hot news, and with the Embargoed by the Council in certain financial areas that had forced them to rely on different trading avenues. But in truth even he did not expect that the anomalies would become a fad people got hooked into, he thought the religions were bad enough.

But one hundred billion credits in six months, that wasn't too bad considering, but barely anything to brag about. Yet still even their respective races were getting in on the hype, even those in the Traverse and Terminus systems seemed to be taking an interest. But it wasn't anything interesting; a fad would last for so long before people became bored of it.

But that did not change the fact that the System Alliance was starting to be seen differently; many feared that this is the beginning of a possible expansion. They have always been seen as a very aggressive race in terms of how much territory they accumulated in their rise to the stars, which was only a short two decades.

Some fear that when they cannot claim anything else peacefully, they will turn to war in order to compensate. Their controlled territory of the Alliance was nearly the same size of the Councils Inner Space, their entire space being the same size as those shared between the Turian, Salarian's as well as the Krogan DMZ.

Although most of those fears were unfounded due to little proof, but recent events many have reaffirmed them. Their next line of discussion broaching the source of those fears, fears that they all shared.

"But we have a bigger problem," Valern said. "If the Alliance is weakened or splits, we risk it being overrun by the Batarian's, if a war breaks out that space will be shattered, and with our presence and recent actions we may be called to account for that. The Quarian schism was one thing, but this could be much worse, especially since we had a direct hand in it."

"Yet you forget, those anomalies, they likely would prevent such a thing. They have appeared on many worlds that have been subject to open engagements, it is likely this will keep the Batarian's from making a move," Sparatus said.

"Yes, but even then if the economy or anything else becomes crippled within the Alliance it may crumble, a species can fall to more than just war," Tavos replied, knowing that war won't be the end of the Alliance, it will be their embargoes and restrictions. "And if they fall we may be dealing with vengeful people, and if one of those anomalies attacked there is nothing we can do."

"A good reason for us to find a solution to as quickly as possible, if these anomalies continue to appear and we have no defense against them, who knows what they could, and will, do," Valern said.

Scientists from every field were working to determine exactly what these things were and none of them had come up with anything of note. Mainly because they couldn't even grasp the power they had or the means in which it could be harnessed in a human body. Their speeds reaching the subsonic level, and a level of strength that was impossible to calculate, with durability virtually impossible to determine.

While Element Zero did have its uses, even it couldn't accomplish the feats being seen by these beings, not on such a small scale anyway. More than that, it would appear as if they were completely devoid of anything related to Element Zero in terms of these abilities. It was some form of energy manipulation but the energy in question simply did not exist, or more accurately could not be detected. All they could pick up was massive amounts of atomic particle displacement as this energy leaked out and saturated an area.

"The Cell has been built; all we need to do is capture one…" Sparatus started before he was cut off.

"The Cell may not be enough, that monster on Torfan released enough energy to actually destabilize the moon's tectonic plate, that alone is a horrifying prospect if it was contained in something that cannot hold it," Valern replied, remembering the reports from Torfan, that moon had become completely inhospitable after the incident.

In fact the moon had shifted orbit several meters as well, not much, but considering the power of that strike it made it all the more frightening. The Cell was designed to harness the energy from the Destiny Ascension and three other adjacent ships to create a powerful barrier to hold one of these beings in it. But deep down he had his doubts it would be enough to contain them, even one.

"Especially this close to the Citadel," Tevos interjected. "We have no idea what these beings are, but they are a major threat to the stability of the Galaxy and we cannot allow them to remain active."

Their main objective was to capture one for study and determine any viable weaknesses, after that they would work on created counter measures. These things could take on armies and starships, there was no way they were going to risk facing them without something that could do some damage. But the scary part came with the means to actually capture one.

* * *

 _Three Weeks Later_

Captain Anderson was not in the mood for this, truly he wasn't, but it would seem that fate was deciding to be cruel as usual for him. Standing before him were three individuals, all Turian, two were soldiers in black armor, top of the line in both equipment and position, Blackwatch.

But the one that stood between them and ahead was someone of note, General Invectus, someone that had originally been put in charge of the joint Turian and System Alliance stealth ship. They called it the Normandy, it was to be the state of the art in stealth systems and maneuverability, it was a symbol of cooperation and trust between the two enemies.

"You're taking the Normandy," Anderson said, looking over the report and giving the General a glare, something he received as well.

"The Government of Palavan is very concerned about keeping this Stealth Ship in your hands, as of now the ship is being decommissioned and sent back to be placed in dry dock," Invectus replied, keeping his words short and posture straight. "I had hoped it would not have come to this sadly, but with how things are going there is no way around it."

"Of course not, because what can we do when our entire race is being placed under the thumb of another, some would call that tyrannical, and we all know tyrants don't last long," Anderson said.

"Careful, that attitude is the reason why many have lost their positions in command," Invectus stated, truth be told he doubted that the System Alliance could create those things, there is no way anything like that could be created, or even exist for that matter.

"Yes, and by throwing us to the fire you are making everyone more heated and raging, so I advise you tell the Council to back off before things get worse," Anderson replied, he knew that the Council was behind this, the Governments and leading bodies of Palavan, Surkesh and Thessia didn't do anything big unless they got the Council to do it, perfect fall guys and also excellent people to show that their races were united in common cause.

That cause happens to be taking the System Alliance apart piece by piece until they were sure they couldn't be a threat. This was nothing more than a power play to make sure the Alliance remembered who was top dog so that if they thought about doing anything the Council didn't like they would press down hard.

"As far as I am aware the Council is planning on letting you up soon, in a few months' time…"

"Months?" Anderson asked.

"We have already endured four years of being controlled and handled by the Council, and you tell me now they are going to be letting us?" Anderson asked, his glare all the more smoldering. "What else haven't they torn apart to look through that hasn't been?"

"Cerberus," Invectus replied.

"Cerberus, now that is funny," Anderson replied, his words grim and less than pleased. "We dealt with them over a year ago, or more correctly you did."

It was old news now, the rogue Black Op's group known as Cerberus has been all but destroyed, their entire faction had been destroyed and broken apart. Many different cells had been found throughout Alliance Space and the Traverse where Cerberus has set up shot. Dabbling in many illegal experiments and technologies, but through the Councils efforts they had all been tracked down and destroyed.

Their leader was known as the Illusive Man, someone who was not publically known or even seen by many of the operatives. But it turned out that after dissecting much of their forces they found their hideout, a Station in the Hades Gamma System. It had been raided and their leader killed, a one named Leon Trotsky, a man who was formally an Intelligence Officer in the Alliance Navy.

How the man went on to create this group and let alone lead it was not known, but he certainly made it a force to be reckoned with. But he along with his faction is dead, there was nothing left of them inside Alliance Space.

"Even so there may still be remnants hanging about, we cannot allow anything to remain," Invectus replied.

"This is a joke, there is nothing left for you here and you are now picking at anything you can in order to stay here, there is nothing left to find or prove that we are responsible," Anderson replied. "You are pissing off a lot of people, do not push any harder or find an excuse, take one more thing from us and I can assure you that what comes next will not be pretty."

Invectus did not react to the threat, they have been made before many times over the last few months. From politicians to the common citizen was rebelling against the Councils authority over the Alliance, something they cannot get out of and that was making people angry.

"We will be sending people to collect the Ship soon, make the preparations, that will be all," Invectus replied, turning and walking for the door.

Anderson watched him leave with his two guards, his hands clasped in front of his face and dreading what will come next. Not only was the Council shutting down the entirety of the Alliance but they were taking from them now, that would not go over well. Many will think that the Council will start annexing off territories near the borders of their space and imposing laws over specific worlds.

The problem with being a Council Affiliated is that their laws can superimpose over theirs, meaning that they can impose certain laws and restrictions even within their space. That is the cost of integration in the Galactic community, you have to sacrifice some rights to prove you were trustworthy, or this happens. But this was much worse than that, the Council was overstepping itself and a lot of people were feeling it, and they were having enough.

"Time will tell if we truly want to be part of the Council, because if they keep pushing we won't be answering to them for long," Anderson thought.

* * *

 **Eden Prime**

"This is pretty boring," Sergeant Donkey said aloud, the short blonde haired soldier looking down at the excavation with as much enthusiasm as the rest of his squad.

"Couldn't agree more," Rasputin said, leaning against a nearby rock as the archeology team continued excavating the site.

They had been assigned to watch and protect the team as they dug through the dirt to find anything of value beneath the surface. The entire site was massive, about an entire square kilometer of ruins that were being unearthed. Fallen structures mostly, and a few tablets with writing and pictures on them but nothing else, to them it was pointless really.

"Why the hell are we out here for? Get some of the damn FNG's to come here and do this, not like there is anything dangerous around here," Donkey said, shaking his head and also annoyed he had been put in command.

Ashley William's was a better candidate than him to lead this squad, but even then this was not a job someone would want to lead on. It was boring as hell, it was hot and there was absolutely nothing to do other than complain about their current predicament.

"We haven't gotten an FNG in over two years, for god sakes we have been stuck here that long and unable to get off world," Ashley barked back, her ire rising as that line of reply brought up an even sourer subject for all.

The fact that all of them had been stuck on Eden Prime for nearly three years with no means to get off world and even transfer was a nightmare for them. Messages off world were scarce; both in occurrence and content, leaving them to worry about their families, and them likely in turn grew concerned. In fact the Private of their squad, Jenkins, was meant to hop off world around three months ago to go to Arcturus Station to get deployed. But like so many others they were forced to remain grounded.

"Yeah, things are not getting better for us," Bates said, shaking his head.

"I haven't seen my husband in years, and he has been trying to get me off world for the last year," Bhatia said, it had been pretty hard for her being away from her husband for so long. "He told me that the Council may be letting up soon, that I might be able to slip through and finally meet him back on the Citadel."

Her positioning on Eden Prime had been done and meant to be a short one, but since all traffic between planets were halted including troop movements she couldn't get off-world. No one could, for the last two and a half years she had been stuck on this rock with only limited communications with her husband.

"Fat chance, the Council has the Alliance by the balls and no one is doing anything," Ashley replied, glaring at nothing.

This entire thing was a sham; the Council was trying to squeeze the Alliance into submission because it was actually able to defend itself and because there was something out there looking out for her species. Her mind drifted to that, the angels, the ones that had protected those colonies and they smite anyone that threatened the innocents there.

Never before in her entire life has she been sure of a god watching over her, that there was someone out there protecting them. That maybe she can feel safe knowing that when her time came to meet her maker it will actually be something to see.

"What do you expect; the Council imposed a lot of laws on us when we joined them, and now we are dealing with the repercussions," Donkey said, shaking his head. "Although I never expected them to have this much power, bloody politicians bent over backwards just to save face and now we are stuck with this. Typical."

"Hopefully things will change soon," Ashley said.

A shout from the ruins caught their attention; they could see the archeologists below rushing towards something. The squad looked at one another for a moment before they rushed down, not willing to risk something happening while they were standing with their thumbs up their asses.

Rushing through the ruins they find the archeologists all clambering around a collapsed section, finding within a recently excavated tomb. Many thought it was some sort of ceremonial burial site, the Devil Dogs pushed through and stared down into the pit.

"What's going on down there? Everyone okay?" Sergeant Donkey called down, seeing three people below around some kind of obelisk.

"We are fine!" A red haired woman called out, Dr. Warren was her name, she was smiling and looked absolutely giddy. "We are more than fine."

In front of her was a large onyx object, smooth and metallic, and seemed to be thrumming with dormant power. She ran her hand over the object and took several steps back, clasping a hand over her mouth and giving a laugh.

"What's down there?" Ashley called.

"A Prothean Beacon!" Warren called back, and a murmur of surprise sprung up from everyone.

"Get back to base," Donkey said, looking to his team. "Tell them everything, but make sure they keep this quiet."

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed it, up next is the Eden Prime mission.**

 **Reviews:**

 **A special thanks to: Krazyfanfiction1, Halitar, Ahsanrox, Reality Deviant, Law77, Edboy4926, Prototype Gear, Bringer of the Morrow, Guisniperman, Aesir19, Inverness, JJN37, Dutoc, Indecisive Bob, Bobboky, Mayhem296, Tiggz, Girl-of-Action, Meech Macko, Hollowichigo12, Alchemists19.**

 **Tormound** : The System Alliance is part of the Council and held under specific laws, the only way they could have been given a Council Seat or even considered for one is because they follow and act under Council Law and are forced to adhere to it. They cannot do their own thing and be part of the Council, it is illogical, the Council is like the UN and they are forced to carry out specific laws that make a Nation comply with the UN and all nations rather than allowing them all to follow their own rules and reasons.

As for Ines' trial, he was convicted of hiding information that could threaten the stability of the galaxy, falsifying information to protect the Alliance, while also bribing and threatening others to keep quiet about the information and even lying to his own Government. Using his military powers and privileges to hide this information and threatened the stability and agreements made between the Council and System Alliance.

 **Jigentou** : Yeah, didn't really put much thought into it and just chose it.

 **Six Samurai of Dragon Order** : Spirits of the other races do exist but are different than Soul Reapers, because technically the reason Soul Reapers exist and are as powerful as they are is because of the Soul King and that will be explained upon later.

 **Xenter** : That Politics man, their figure heads for their governments and meant to be shown as a unified front for all Government bodies in the Council that rule over their space. But there are many other races that are part of the Council that are forced to adhere to their rules or else, pretty much because that it is it. The Treaty of Ferixen for example applies to all Council races and those allies with them, but this treaty is more than just Dreadnaughts as it encompasses other things militaristic as well.

Because of that the Council would have certain amounts of power over the races that join them among the Citadel as allies. This isn't just them being buddies and trading stuff, this is like the UN, you want to join you follow our rules or you can get out and no one is above the law in that situation and if you break it you will feel their heavy hand come down. You don't rule the Council by being soft and letting people do what they do, you do it by making it known you can control them when they get out of hand. Look at the Krogan, that is a perfect example when someone got out of control and they handled it, not in a smart or nice way either, but that is what they are willing to do.

 **Ssg1** : As I have said before the Alliance is forced to comply with rules of the Council, they cannot do as they please because if they could they would be conducting to their hearts content in fields that are highly dangerous like A.I. research. But they follow the laws and restrictions of the Council because they are part of it and are forced to comply with their laws and restrictions when they are breached. But the fact these entities appeared over three worlds that are directly affiliated with the Alliance and two were major military offensives raises questions and suspicions. It is pretty obvious and really people should pick up on this, I don't spell everything out, you're not children.

 **Kinunatzs** : I do not follow? What do you mean humanity regaining their Spiritual Powers? Also the reason for the Council doing this is because of certain laws and… forget it, look at the first three long responses and you will get it.

 **Mangahero18** : Spiritual Particles exist on a separate dimensional plane that is basically the spirit plane that runs parallel to the material plane. When a ghost is here they can have some interaction with the material world, but often it is about the density of their power and matter that allows them to interact.

But with the Shinigami they are forced to basically compress their power down and actually force a sort of manifestation in the material world in order to exist in it and that is because most worlds and even space quite literally has no spiritual realm. If they didn't do this they would basically die, their spiritual form exploding outwards no differently than a human body exposed to the vacuum of space. The reason is simply, they manifest and condense their power to keep themselves alive.

 **Koper** : Even if they deleted memories evidence would remain of their passing, video feeds an example and there are people beyond their reach to wipe. Also you are correct the Council is like the UN, but while the Council cannot govern their race they impose laws and sanctions that are used in accordance with certain acts. They can demilitarize a race, just like certain nations in the UN can halt member's military actions and prevent them. This is no different.

 **Feral Creature** : Maybe…

 **Squadpunk 2.0** : I agree, and I have a plan.

 **Harbringer of Kaos** : Yeah, they need to step up and I think I know the guy to do just that.

 **Suna Chunin** : Most of the sacrificial Cerberus group was wiped out already, but there are remnants still floating about and they will get their chance to die.

 **Dark Vizard447** : No, not Cerberus, they are chasing down something much worse. Something as dangerous as Yhwach. Remember the Muken is a place where they imprison the Worse of the Worst, and there are always things down there not meant to get out. For they are Immortal.

 **Shrek** : Of course, Shrek is Love, Shrek is Life.

 **Vinayakdj1** : Trust me, what I plan will surprise you and remember, Yhwach is but the son, and when you hear what these three are and who they are tied to you will understand the significance.

 **SomethingAncient** : Remember that the spiritual realm is completely composed of Spiritual Particles, and they help with making the dimension resemble a natural world. The Air, soil, grass, everything simple thing is made up of the same element. But when you place a soul in a place that is practically a vacuum they would behave in a very similar manner to a human. There is a physics behind the spiritual realm even if it is the afterlife. Space does contain something akin to a spiritual plane but it is chaotic and dangerous, think of it similar to the Dangai but worse. Only planets that develop spiritual entities like humans can create spiritual realms like the Soul Society. As it has been shown the souls of humans has been instrumental in maintaining the stability of the Soul Society and if it is halted than that realm collapses.

 **Bardshark** : The events will be a little different, but mostly the same.

 **Matt Kennedy** : Because mainly the body does restrict them to a material form, even with their powers that body can be damaged more easily. After all it is a physical body and has physical limitations compared to spiritual bodies.

 **Yiggdrasill** : The Reapers are machines and would try to understand them, coming down to the conclusion they are some form of dimensional entities. The concept of spirits and gods would likely be brought down to organics finding a means to try and understand them but failing and resorting to something simple.

 **PhoenixCorpse** : Trust me; it can happen, sooner than you think.

 **Thank you all for reviewing and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Done, and ready to be read, hope you all enjoy this and I am sorry that I did not respond to any reviews but with how hectic life is becoming it is impossible for me to do everything at once now. I use to bust out chapters one a week, now I am lucky to get half of one done in that time. But still I am hoping to get back into the groove and actually start writing a lot more.**

 **I apologise if the chapter is not up to certain expectations but I did my best here, and we are officially into the Mass Effect 1 storyline, Eden Prime I expect will be a three part storyline, so enjoy.**

* * *

 **Are We Alone**

 **Chapter 06: Declaration of War**

 **SSV Achilles**

"How are things going?" Hackett inquired, his holographic image flickering slightly, the already distorted form of the man making the only thing recognizable was his voice.

"We are doing well, it was a good thing that we could slip in like this," Captain Anderson replied, he stood near the bridge of the ship, looking out into the void of space as he spoke with his collegue. "Do you suspect the Council will catch wind of what were up to?"

"Even if they do they can't do squat, the convoy your with is resupplying our forces out in the Petra Nebula, the only way there is through the Utopia System, right where we need to be," Hackett replied. "The Council can shout and holler, but we are technically still aiding in a foreign invasion of our territory. So they cannot do anything to us."

Anderson smirked a little despite the risk they were taking, what they did now was paramount to treason – against Council Law that was. They were part of a resupply group being sent to reinforce the borders of the Batarian Borders near the Petra Nebula which had come under heavy raids as of the last few months. They were part of the escort meant to protect the supply ships, but that was not the truth.

"As soon as they hit the refuelling station in System break off, head for Eden Prime, extract the Beacon and get back to the Convey, if everything goes well we can pull this off without anyone being the wiser," Hackett replied.

Word had reached them nearly two months ago of the Beacon on Eden Prime, yet it had been discovered a month prior to them being informed. It had been a hard game for Hackett and everyone else to keep this information secret, there was no damn way they were going to let the Council get wind of anything.

The methods they had to use in order to get word to the right people was staggering, they had actually been given the message by a family member of a marine on the planet. Apparently when they were younger the family had a code system they used to write letters to one another to send secret messages.

After nearly a month of correspondence between the two they were able to plan out who they should bring the information to and the channels to use. It was simply remarkable that they had caught a break like this, and that only so few knew about this as well. The plan was simple, and if they pulled it off they would have in their possession a working piece of Prothean technology.

But this plan had many other gears in motion than just acquiring it, because it was not only a game changer in the current technologies employed in the galaxy, it was their ticket to freedom. The beacon may hold knowledge that could shoot forward their current technology by centuries, or hold ground breaking new discoveries, it could hold anything.

And that is what was so valuable.

The technology within could shoot forward an entire race, power shifts and changes hands quickly, and with this the Alliance could get itself out of the gutter. With it they can go in many directions, and all of them revolve around the Alliance finally pushing the Council from their space and forcing them to comply.

The Beacon was something all the races of the Citadel craved, it was their holy grail, and if the Alliance had it, they had near unlimited sway over them. With the Beacon they could force the Council to depart their space and as an act of good faith share information regarding the Beacon.

This was a mutual benefit that would not let the Council get one up on them.

The second is that if the Council attempts to take it, all stops come out and the treaty is dissolved, the System Alliance will rescind its membership to the Council and become an independent party. With that they have no obligations with the Beacon and can use it to their hearts content, and if the Council tries anything it will be a declaration of war. That is something the Council will not risk, not now when public opinion over their current tyranny over the human race is starting to fall back on them.

This was a win-win for them, their space and privileges would be returned to them and they would be the ones holding something over the Council for once. That appealed to everyone, especially those involved in this little revolution, and this time they had as many people as they could that they knew were trustworthy with this information.

The Military, Government and Science Divisions within the System Alliance were all ready for this, and were not going to let the Council get in the way with their policies anymore.

"We'll get it done Admiral, don't worry about that, Anderson out."

The image flickered and disappeared, leaving Anderson to stand by the pilot's seat and look out into the void of space. As he looked he found a single metallic object a few hundred thousand kilometres from their position, the pulsing energies easily distinguishing it from the many stars on the black canvas.

"Getting word from the Sagittarius, jump data and approach vectors," The Helmsman said, and two fellow crewmen went to work on processing the data and preparing for their own jump vector within the fleet cluster.

Hackett observed them as they went through the motions, setting up the calculations and setting their jump coordinates and comparing them to the data being distributed through the other ships. It took a great deal of effort to jump multiple ships through the Relay, often taking half an hour to get all the coordinates and ensuring that no conflicts came up when the jumping began.

The worst thing that can happen is that they collide during the jump, or decelerate within a certain vicinity of each other. Both cases resulted in the disintegration of a ship at worst, and the best they can hope for is that the ships survived that survivors can be rescued. It was a meticulous and often painstaking task of making sure every single ship came out on the other side in one piece.

"All ships ready and prepared to jump," Helmsman Jairo Crooks, a good pilot and among those on a short list that would have potentially piloted the SSV Normandy had it not been taken by the Council.

Although he had lost his chance to pilot the most advanced Frigate in the System Alliance he still was given a chance to pilot this mission. Having been stuck on Arcturus Station for seven months had not done the man any good, but now that he was behind the controls of a ship he was back in his elements and loving it. Something Anderson could share, he had been grounded for just as many months as well, life had been hard for everyone and he hoped with this mission's success that they can finally return to normal.

"Entering Relay in three… two… one…"

Anderson lurched slightly as the ship took off faster than the speed of light, it was near instantaneous between their departure and arrival but even so the sudden shift into real space to a mass free space was not without its bumps. Especially since he had not been given a chance to stretch his sailor legs, he even felt a little nausea work its way up his throat as well.

'Been on the ground too long,' Anderson grouched to himself privately.

"On route to the refuelling station," Crooks said. "ETA: Twenty two minutes."

"Good, connect with a comm buoy and get in contact with Eden Prime, once you do, begin coordinating with the excavation team, we have only forty minutes when we leave the station to get the package and get back," Anderon replied, he turned and moved back towards his seat.

The bridge was a simple rectangular room, over a dozen crewman worked at panels and screens that lined the walls. Taking his seat he looked around at the blue lit room and waited, this was all he could do at the moment and prepare for the right moment when they could break away undetected and move to Eden Prime.

Leaning back into his seat he looked out into the void, seeing the edges of a transport ship and the frigate that was just a kilometre ahead of them. As he remained motionless his mind worked quickly, thinking over so many variables and things that have occurred. This situation was something he and many others believed they could escape, but there was something that they could not account for or prepare against. And that was the cause of these said events.

'The Anomalies,' Anderson thought.

They had caused all their problems, while also being something of an inspiration despite it, but more than that they were the one thing no one could explain. So much has been done to try and understand them and they had failed to do that, nothing has come of the countless years spent researching them or the even understanding their motives.

Through everything they are the one thing that has eluded every single person in this galaxy's watch, nothing of them has been seen in the last six months. The last report was of a silver haired young man, carrying a large nodachi, apart from that not another sighting has been seen of any of the others.

It was strange that they appeared like they did, always somewhere that was in the midst of conflict, their motives were unknown but they were always drawn to death and battle. So what was it that made them so attracted to the conflicts of humanity? It also made him wonder how long they may have been watching them for. Decades? Centuries? Millennia?

He had no doubt that those things were not human, they took human form and spoke as such, for there was no possible way they could be anything human or part of this existence. They were something else, and what scared him most, is what drew them here and warranted them interfering when they obviously do not wish to.

"Sir!"

Anderson jerked slightly, turning to the comms officer, the fresh out of the Academy Junior Officer frantically tapped at the panels. Her motions were slow and a little sloppy, but she was diligent in her work and didn't stop as she fought to find a rhythm.

"What is it Ensign?"

"We are getting a distress call from Eden Prime, they are under attack!" She replied, her expression conveyed the shock she felt.

But her shock did not convey the gut wrenching dread that appeared in the pit of Anderson's stomach at that very moment.

* * *

Shepard leaned back against her seat; despite her attempts to relax she couldn't help but feel excited, she had been up for fifteen hours already and would be in the Petra system in another five. After that it was combat, this trip would be the only chance she would get for a good rest before the hard slog.

But still that rational thinking did not help her get any rest, after all it was impossible to forget as soon as you get off this ship you would be in a highly volatile fighting location. Shepard knew that she could handle herself, but this mission was important, so when it was over she would gain what she wanted.

N7, the highest level of proficiency within the Special Forces, and the Interplanetary Combatives Training.

Finally she would be where she wanted to be, at the highest levels and somewhere that can make a difference. Even if the Alliance was being shackled she knew that the time will come for her to be there when they need to fight to defend their race from aggression.

"Hey Jess, get up, the Major wants to see us, something's up,"

Shepard turned to Rinat Averyanov, the red haired N6 gestured to the front of the passenger section, before she looked through the doorway to see said grizzly man was already speaking with the other recruits. Leaping out of her seat she rushed over with Rinat right behind her, just catching the end of a transmission.

"…Requesting reinforcements, I repeat we are in need of reinforcement!"

The message cut out just as she stepped into the room and finding Major Mikkai looking at the rest of the N6 soldiers. His expression was grim as usual, but it held a certain intensity that one would think to call murderous rage, but that was his usual angry expression.

"As you heard Eden Prime is currently under attack, and for those that didn't, well you know now," Mikkai said, but none seemed to react to the words, no shouts or murmurs broke out and no one fidgeted.

Everyone here was a trained soldier, the best of the best in all of the Alliance, they can feel shock and anger but they knew how to control it. They were not some fresh out of boot camp privates who thirsted for combat or were scared shitless about going into their first engagement. No, they would see combat and had trained to face down anything and come out on top.

"All of us will be dropping planet side to assist, we will be arriving in ten minutes, so get your gear together and get ready for a firefight," Mikkai ordered. "This is your first ground op, stick to your training and if you survive this, let's show those bastards what happens when they fuck with humanity."

Shepard turned and was through the door just as he made his proclamation, moving for her container and getting her armor. Mark III Mercenary Armor, excellent protection from the generic stuff they give to the everyday Alliance Marine, it cost her a pretty penny. But it was damn well worth it, this baby had great shield due to high grade emitters placed throughout the suit, there was little to nothing going to be getting through her.

Within those ten minutes given to them she was suited up and ready to drop, grabbing her rifle and pistol she fastened them to the magnetic locks and turned. Mikkai was standing near the doorway, and the rest of her fellow N6 comrades were strolling towards him, they were all ready to drop into the fight.

* * *

 **Eden Prime**

Ashley slid into cover, blind firing her rifle over the stone block and hoping to hit something, but even with so little in the open her shields flickered as she took grazing hits from the enemy. She looked to her right to see three others were with her, what was left of her squad, it used to be ten.

They had retreated through a series of narrow passes in the hills outside the colony, hoping to escape from their pursuers and regroup. That had not worked out well for them, in the last two hours of fighting they had retreated across just as many kilometres of valleys and passes, they had dwindled down from an entire squad to this. They were forced to leave behind their fallen comrades lest they join them from the continually advancing machines.

Ashley had reasoned that they had no choice but to retreat, but the thought of leaving them behind to have their corpses defiled. It haunted her, leaving her comrades and friends behind, but what choice did she have? She still had three others with her that needed to be taken care of.

"We're getting slaughtered!" Bhatia cried out, trying to rise and fire, but was forced back down when her shields flickered from several direct hits.

"I know!" Ashley replied, leaning to the side and firing at the machines, bipedal and synthetic, the main feature was their flash-light heads. "Dammit."

Ashley fired off a few shots, able to take down one of the synthetics shields but was forced back when fire shifted to her position; these guys were too well organized. If they were synthetics they must work in some sort of hive mind, or whatever technical term it was, and could likely think a mile a minute.

"We need to fall back!" Jenkin's cried out, pressed hard against his cover and his terror bleeding through his visor.

Ashley knew that they had to do it, but the problem was that these Synthetics had them by the balls right now. There were at least three times as many of the synthetics as there were them and they had them completely suppressed.

'Got to think of something,' Ashley growled, they had to escape otherwise they were all dead.

As if fate was mocking her she heard a sudden whistle and then thump, turning to the right she found the source, laying in the dirt about ten feet from her was a capsule of some sort. Immediately she knew what the hell that thing was, it may have no markings and appeared as alien as hell but she knew what she was looking at.

"Grenade!"

Ashley leaped aside and prayed that when she was flat against the ground she would survive, sadly she did not hit the earth before it exploded. She was propelled back, the shockwave throwing her across the ground and right into a nearby rock wall. The sudden hit had been oddly painless, but that was likely due to the concussion and the fact she had been knocked out.

A groan escaped her lips as she looked up, her vision was blurry and dark, she struggled to even lift her head to see what was going on. Jenkins tried to stand, staggering to a knee, his weapon was gone and he appeared to be disorientated. He did not stay upright, a shot rang out and he was blown off his feet, a grunt escaped his mouth as he shields blew apart and he hit the ground.

"Argh… Chief…" Jenkin's called, his words were pained.

The horror would not be comprehended to Ashley until later, when the cloud over her mind and chaos of this battle came to an end, at the man's final words. A synthetic walked forward, took aim quickly and fired a controlled burst into the Private's chest, he jerked from the hits before going completely still. Another machine appeared from behind the other, blood red armor compared to the black and carrying a compact shotgun, it took aim at Donkey next, the blonde man tried to raise his rifle but was mercilessly shot before he could retaliate.

'No…' Ashley thought, watching with blurry eyes as they grabbed her comrade's bodies and dragged them away.

She looked up, finding one of the machines hovering over her, the lightbulb head of the synthetic looked down at her for a moment. It raised its rifle and aimed right for her chest, guess it didn't want to ruin her beautiful face, at least she would die still pretty. But even the funny side of this couldn't help her, right now she was going to die on this planet away from her family.

'Please god, please don't let me die like this,'

She felt the world almost go slow, seeing the slowly tightening digit of the synthetic around the trigger, it was agonizing to feel her life being prolonged. She just wanted to survive, to see her family again, her sister's faces, her mother, she wanted to live.

Then it happened.

Ashley did not know what to call it, an hallucination came to mind, but the synthetic that once stood over her was gone. The pale red skies above, blotted with smoke and ash, now could be seen without any obstructions.

New sounds began to form over the ringing in her ears, the deafness dissipating and giving way to the sounds of gunfire and metal being torn apart. Ashley couldn't see anything; she could only remain laying on the ground and try to listen to the sound of something fighting those machines. With what strength she had, and tolerance to the pains and agony assaulting her, she hauled herself forward.

Dragging herself along the dirt and into sight of the battle, her vision was poor but still she saw, and when her eyes caught sight of the mysterious attacker they widened as all disorientation disappeared. The synthetics, numbered maybe two dozen were all down for the count, they had been utterly decimated and in a very brutal manner.

Smashed apart, sliced, and even ripped to pieces it would seem. Yet among the scrap metal stood a single individual, clad in black and carrying two swords, it did not take but a glance from the Gunnery Chief to realize who it was.

'Ichigo…'

The orange haired young man that had been instrumental behind the breaking of the Blitz, the Guardian of Elysium, and so called god that went out and saved hundreds of thousands of people. And that man was no more than twenty feet from where she was laying.

Then he turned towards her, the signature scowl and piercing brown eyes found her, she instantly went still as his gaze fell onto her. She felt nervous, not because she was afraid of attack, no it was something a little more childish; to be in this man's presence was an experience she never would have expected.

It would be comparable to meeting Jesus, if Jesus was an orange haired Asian man that could take down armies with a sword and didn't look half bad in black.

So right now she felt nervous at the fact she was in the presence of someone that was a hero and symbol of godhood and she could do nothing but stare at him. No words could form in her mouth as she returned his gaze, and maybe met his scowl with a meek expression. God, this was embarrassing, and another moment she would look back on as a massive humiliation on her part for acting like that in front of him.

Then he stepped forward, strolling towards her and before she could speak or even move he placed a hand on her shoulder. It was thought provoking moment for Ashley Williams, to have him touch her on the shoulder, no matter the reason or circumstance, was almost like she was touched by god. For all she knew this kid may be god.

Then she felt a strange sensation, it was completely alien to her what she experienced, but in one moment all her pain and dreariness dispersed and she felt completely fine. Her eyes focused and she through her helmet display her suit was showing no signs of trauma, no concussion or muscle damage, not even those cracked ribs.

"What the…" Ashley didn't know what happened, but somehow she was healed.

"Get your friend out of here,"

Ashley looked to the left and found Ichigo standing there, his hand lying atop Bhatia's chest, and soon she noticed a green luminescent glow surround her. Then as quickly as it appeared it was gone, the punctures in her suit remained as did the blood but Ashley could pick up on her HUD that Bhatia was in perfect health.

Previous scans had shown her to be on the verge of cardiac arrest, a result of her going into shock, but now her life signs had stabilized and she seemed to be only unconscious. Had he actually healed them with his touch? Just like that?

"Get to the settlement to the north east, there are soldiers there," Ichigo finished, before he vanished from sight.

Ashley was awestruck, this moment had to be something out of a fairy tale, she had met a man that had almost singlehandedly confirmed the existence of gods. His very existence made many in humanity believe once more in higher powers, and now he was here. This was one of those moments that all but reinforced her belief that god did exist, and he was most certainly looking out for her.

"Thank you god, seriously, thank you," Ashley murmured under her breath.

* * *

 **Pishon, Eden Prime Colony**

"Move!" Mikkai ordered, leaping out of the transport and sprinting through the colonies main square and to the nearest cover.

Behind him followed a squad of eleven, all of them elite N6 soldiers, and with expert precision and calm they got to cover in a dispersed formation. Three-man teams, all moving to him but taking covering positions to their flanks and rear of their main force. He loved it when he didn't need to shout at them what to do.

"Rules of engagement sir?" Barbara Meszaros called over the comms, the woman was covering their right flank with her squad.

"Our job is securing this site, we take out anything in the vicinity and give the boys in orbit a good spot to drop the rest of our boys off," Mikkai replied. "Beta squad will be in the north-east doing the same, we take as much of this colony back and give ourselves a lot of room to deploy."

The plan was to take most of this colony back and use it as a staging ground to expand outwards and fight off any invaders. It was also to bring back any survivors so that they could be evacuated to the nearest settlements that were not under attack. But for now they needed to secure Pishon, the colony that was specifically under attack.

"Contact left flank!" Shepard called, raising her rifle and firing off a quick burst before ducking into cover.

Her squad mates Rinat and Joshua both reacted alongside her, ducking down after a quick burst before waiting for a lull in fire to retaliate. Shepard poked her weapon up and firing, her mass accelerated rounds flickering against the shields of some synthetic entity, its appearance bizarre and unique at the same time.

"I count ten, three on the left, five on the right and two in the center," Rinat said, rising to fire another burst.

"They may flank from the right then, likely try and get to Mikkai's side and take them," Shepard replied, rising up and firing, her aim true as she punched through a machine's shields and tore through its armor. "Don't let that happen."

It was then that contacts started appearing everywhere; she could hear the other squads sprouting off about their own engagements now. It seems they kicked up a hornets nest when they landed, drawing all these guys towards them. Their landing zone was surrounded and they were under heavy fire, it wouldn't be long before they were overrun by sheer numbers.

"Clear the flanks and push forward!" Mikkai ordered.

Shepard understood immediately what he meant, remaining in their current situation would only get them killed, their only option was to advance into the colony and find a better position to defend. Shepard reached for her grenades, finding the adhering disks and quickly activating three of them, standing up she threw them towards the oncoming force.

"Grenades five seconds out!" Shepard called, just as she ducked down back into cover.

Another cry went out, similar to Shepard's but to the right flank, they were only seconds away from pulling off their plan. Then the explosions occurred, three successive explosions went off within the Synthetics ranks, the sound of metal and stone being torn apart overshadowed the gunfire. Shepard quickly got to her feet and starting picking off anything within her line of sight, catching where here explosives had gone off.

Two had gone off along the street where the synthetics were funnelling in, causing a partial collapse of the buildings and blocking half the street, and another had destroyed most of the cover near that entrance.

"Teams two and three, back up four in the retreat, team one move up!" Mikkai ordered, rising from cover and firing a barrage down the street ahead of him.

Shepard turned and started provided assistance to Roshan's team, leaving Rinat to cover the flank and call out targets as they appear. Shepard retreating backwards with the two other teams slowly, responding to calls from flanking actions and keeping the enemy at bay with their own brand of suppressing fire.

"Tyrone's down!"

Shepard did not respond or react to the call, someone was dead more than likely, she had to remain focused otherwise other would join him. She had made it to the street's entrance when something whizzed past her and slammed into the walls nearby. Shepard was thrown into the wall, her shoulder taking the painful hit before she collapsed to the ground. Shaking off the wave of nausea and ringing in her ears she looked up to see a larger machine with an even bigger gun moving towards them.

"Big mothers on its way!" Rinat called out, opening fire on the large red armored synthetic along with three others.

"Fall back! We are exposed!" Roshan ordered. "Grenades out!"

Shepard pushed herself to her feet before turning and running after her squad, the resounding explosions behind her was the only comfort she had that they wouldn't be shot in the back immediately. But luckily they were on a role, the Synthetics had not been able to keep up with their bull rush through the colony, allowing them to escape being boxed in or flanked without warning.

But that could only last for so long; they were running through the streets blind at the moment, if they didn't move to take out the opposition they would never get this place ready for their main force to land. Eventually they had to stop and reorientate themselves, the plan to clear a landing zone and retake most of the colony was not going to work as well as they hoped.

"In the house, now!" Mikkai called over the comms, motioning to a house near the corner of a street, two stories and with one visible entrance.

The N6 squad sprinted up the stairs and into the open doorway, finding a large open living area devoid of most necessities. Already two squads had taking up defensive positions near the long bay window, while two others searched the house for survivors or hostiles.

"Damn, lost three people already," Mikkai growled out.

Shepard looked around and noticed that two more had indeed gone missing, Hadith and Monica were not among them, both of them must have been killed when they tried to escape the landing zone. That left only nine people left, including her, within only fifteen minutes they were already down three people, that did not leave hopes high for their chances of success.

"What the hell do we do now?" Rinat mumbled.

Truthfully no one knew, this op was as simple as it came, they had been ordered to clear out the enemy and had limited to absolutely nothing in terms of logistics on the enemy. Right now they were being beaten back by an enemy they had little information on, both in numbers and capabilities.

"Beta Squad, do you read me?" Mikkai barked, for a few moments he remained motionless and quiet.

Shepard knew for certain he wasn't getting a reply, short transmissions were always used and often over coded channels to prevent the enemy from picking them up, and the man had been silent for about a minute now. The other team was either being jammed or they had been taken out, the fact that her squads current position was secured could be the reason. Beta squad may have taken the brunt of the attack, leaving their squad free from the majority of the enemy's forces.

"Shit," Mikkai growled. "Alright, enemy numbers are oddly focused on the northern section of the colony, we are gonna find out why, we move for Beta squad and regroup before pushing ahead."

"I have eyes on something sir,"

"What is it?" Mikkai replied, strolling over too Ericson.

"North-east, there's some sort of tower, guessing by the dark metal and the shape, it's either some sort of abstract art or something those synthetics are using," Ericson replied.

Shepard glanced out the window and did see a long object poking just over the rooftops, it looked strange and oddly smooth compared to the rough edges of the many buildings that made up the colony. It did have some resemblance to those machines, in terms of the smooth bulbous edges and unique shape, as well as the colour, gun metal grey. No brainer there.

"We are getting some interference from the comms, from what I can guess that tower is a buoy of some sort," Ericson put forward. "We take it out we can get communications back up and may even disrupt the machines own communication network."

"Explain?" Mikkai requested.

"If these guys are running on a network that means they likely are using that buoy to control their runtime, if we take it out we can disrupt the communication between the individual machines and disrupt their response times," Ericson replied. "Do that, we can start taking out their forces without meeting such heavy resistance, they likely would be forced to rely on a limited range transmitter that would make them unable to fight on mass."

"English lieutenant," Mikkia barked.

"If we take out their transmitter they will be unable to direct their entire force, they would be scattered and blind," Ericson responded, going a little too slow for the grizzly man's liking.

"That's the best plan we got so far," Mikkai replied, before he turned to the rest of the squad. "Alright, get on your feet, we got a target, we disrupt that and we link up with Beta Squad."

"Sir," The N6 squad replied as one, moving for the door.

They quickly moved across the street, using any houses and alleyways, avoiding the open streets of the colony in concern of ambushes and being found in general. Patrols move through the streets, small groups of three, not a major threat to the nine manned squad, but any action by them would alert the rest to their presence.

They moved slowly, painfully slow, they could not risk being attacked by the synthetics, they had the numbers and they knew the area. But there was another concern for them, Beta squad, there had not been a single gunshot in the last half an hour since they began their trek towards the tower. It was possible that Beta Squad was hiding and evading the enemy like they were, but in truth the worst thing that can happen is likely what has happened.

Sadly they would only confirm that worst case scenario as soon as they take down that tower, which was only a hundred feet from their position. Just beyond a wide open streets and a unit of houses, which were dug in and guarded, with snipers and entrenched synthetics.

"They got that place protected nice and tight, just perfect," Mikkai growled, lowering his rifle and leaning back around the edge. "As soon as we attack we are gonna be getting swarmed, we need to get in and take this place apart quickly. I need eyes on the sky and also what we are dealing with."

Immediately three people spoke up, a few choice words later and the three of them were off, all of them going in different directions. Their jobs were simple, scout out the surrounding area and determine exactly what they would be getting into. For the next forty minutes they sat there and waited for the three to come back, it was not a pleasant wait for them.

Rochelle was the first to return, having scouted out the western part of the entrenchment, and soon after Morris was right after having scouted the east. The synthetics had each entryway blocked by barricades, with seven viable entryways, all of which were guarded by two eleven feet tall heavy infantry and five man squad of the standard bots they had been fighting against.

Heavy defences considering, getting past all of that is not going to be easy. Especially if they pulled back the other guards from the entrances and converged on them.

"Where is Joshua?" Rinat grumbled, having waited another ten minutes for the man to arrive.

"Over there," Shepard replied, jerking her head just to the red heads left side, seeing their fellow squadmate rush across the street and into the café they were bunkering in.

"What do you have?" Mikkai whispered.

"Enemy movements, and numbers, this area is mostly cleared by up north we got a large number of these buggers, around where Beta Company last was, likely they may still be fighting up there, or searching for them." Joshua replied. "I expect heavy pressure from the northern part of the block."

That was his job, getting to high ground and mapping out the enemies locations and movements, picking out patrols and exactly where they had the numbers. While Rochelle and Morris scouted out the outer perimeter of the block, finding entrances and defences, Joshua had found the enemies strength outside and what would happen when they attacked.

"Recommendations?"

"Two man sniper team," Joshua instantly replied. "I got two vantage points where we can take out their snipers and provide cover fire from on high, and also while long range comms are down, short range can still work."

"Rochelle, Morris," Mikkai said, glancing at the two of them.

"Western side, only one entrance there and furthest from the others, we hit there we can get inside quick and set up a defendable position, after the synthetics are down we shore up our northern defences as quickly as possible," Rochelle replied, something Morris nodded his head to.

"Alright people, let's get to work," Mikkai replied.

Shepard quickly checked her grenade pouch, finding she had six left, not much but it would do her some good. She also unslung her shotgun, unfolding it and cocking it, she was going to be getting up close and personal with these things, and she was going to be ready for that.

"Good hunting Josh," Shepard said, giving a curt nod to her squadmate as he moved off with another man to find their perches.

* * *

Five Geth troopers stood vigilantly behind the two destroyers, their optical photoreceptor scanning the entirety of what was within their field of vision and processing all variables accordingly. Air pressure, humidity and the weather patterns were all monitored and processed quickly and thoroughly within the network to ensure optimal performance.

Current data determines that organics would be moving for this position, analysis based upon this being the only location visible from entirety of the colony that is not architecturally human. With the enemy squadron located zero point six kilometres from this position and under attack they would be no threat.

However, data determines another squad had landed and was able to escape initial attempts at termination, location currently unknown. Although sighs of their presence have been tracked through the colony, current path dictates enemy will be moving for this tower. Strategic importance likely noted, extra runtime being given to all defenders in order to optimize performance and prevent enemy from breaching outer defences.

Warning: Trooper Beza-845-02, unresponsive, last cache packet determined extensive damage to main processor, threat imminent.

Within one-one hundredth of a second it was determined that they were under attack.

"Light them up!" Mikkai called out, firing his rifle down the alleyway and into the frontline destroyer.

With him three others followed suit, littering the large red Geth with dozens of rounds a second, their shields flickered under the barrage. They advanced slowly forward, raising their large calibre shotguns, but they did not make three steps before two cracks shattered the air and the shields of the Geth broke apart.

The red armoured behemoths staggered on their feet before a barrage of gunfire tore through their outer plating and synthetic muscles. With their destruction Mikkai and his team quickly rushed inside, gunning down the troopers and moving for any available cover and waiting for the enemy to come to them.

Within seconds of finding something to hide behind were they attack, sniper fire and dozens of guns roaring as they peppered their position. But the crack of counter sniper fire was heard, the distinct sound of the M-53 Harpoon Sniper Rifle overhead was a reassurance that they had fire support from on high.

Fighting back was a slow affair, with limited chances to retaliate other than short bursts over their cover they were force to take pot shots when they could. Mikkai blind fired his gun over the top of the metal dividing wall and hoped he hit something.

"Shepard, where the hell are you?" Mikkai barked into the comms, he got some static but he could make out someone saying something.

A series of explosions overshadowed the geths assault, glancing around his cover he saw the Geth's left flank had been blown apart, and a series of gunfire soon followed. Soon Shepard and two others bound into the plaza and opened fire onto the Geth's unprotected rear and flank. Mikkai took his chance and opened fire, the enemy was busy trying to counter on both fronts and were caught completely off guard.

"Advance! Cut them off! Do not let them bunker down!" Mikkai ordered, tossing his own grenade and taking a Destroyer out with it.

Soon the Geth were on the defensive, pushed back and forced into a corner where they were being struck on all sides, dwindled down to three destroyers and about half a dozen standard troopers. Every few seconds one more bit the dust, and with every one that fell the rest were going down quicker.

"… … …"

Mikkai kept firing as he got the message, a short burst of three clicks over the comm, it was his only warning that the enemy was on their way. He quickly fired off another burst before he broke cover and rushed over to Ericson, grabbing the man's shoulder.

"Get to the tower and disable it, don't care if it is through some tech savvy shit or blowing it up, take it out now!" Mikkai ordered, before he returned to shooting the get trapped in one corner of the plaza. "Finish them off! We got more on the way!"

Within twenty three seconds his order had been fulfilled, and with that he was already on the move to setting up on hitting the next enemy.

"Get your asses in gear, cover the north entrances, move some of these barricades and scavenge whatever you can from these things," Mikkai ordered, reaching down and examining a rifle from a down trooper.

"… … …"

Another call over his comms, the machines were close, he quickly called for everyone to get to cover and wait for the first thing to come along. It took less than thirty seconds before something came trailing in, heavy red armour being the first thing in sight, and the first thing to get shot.

A loud crack through the air was heard from overhead and the thing's shield flickered and died, and then it was torn apart by the concentrated fire of half a dozen N6 marines. What followed afterwards was the wave, filing in two by two and dispersing quickly as they entered. The synthetics move quickly to any cover as they continued to swarm in, their guns blazed as they retaliated and did not care for any casualties they suffered.

"Ericson! What is taking so long?" Mikkai barked, keeping low and he hobbled towards the next line of cover.

In less than a minute the Geth had already taken the majority of the northern plaza, everything in it was now theirs and almost every inch of it was filled to the brim with bullet spewing synthetics. It was scary seeing how many of them there were, his men were forced to pull back lest the larger ones get too close to actually do some damage with those guns of theirs.

"Ericson!" Mikkai bellowed.

"Sorry sir, need some time with this!" Ericson called back, ducking to the side as a few stray bullets pings off the edge of his shields. "I need a minute!"

Mikkai swore under his breath before he continued to fire, depositing his shotgun on the ground alongside his pistol. If he was going to need to switch up he was going to do it quickly, and with that he continued to fire until his rifle overheated, swinging his pistol up and continued to pop shots.

Twenty seconds in and two of their boys were down, wounded or dead they had no idea but they were down and not getting back up. Shepard had pulled Rinat around cover and kept him there, firing around the barricade and unwilling to move while her teammate was down. She unslung her shotgun and let it unfold in her hand, and while still blind-firing around the edge of her cover, she levelled it on top of her rifle and fired.

Pumping the mechanism on top of the rifle she fired again, using both shotgun blasts and short bursts together. She had no idea if it was working but that was far from the point, at this moment she couldn't not miss right now.

"I think I got something!" Ericson called out; flinching when his shields flickered and a hail of bullets hit his position. "I'm getting flanked here!"

True to his word the Geth had started to actually flank around the edge of the plaza and were going to surround them. They had only a few seconds at best before they were caught in a crossfire with nowhere else to go.

"Then do something!" Mikkai barked, looking across to see a Geth lining up a shot.

He fired and with both pistol and rifle in hand blew through the thing's shields and its body, leaving a shredded torso and head. He turned again and delivered a similar fate upon two more, but he could see that they were still coming in hard and fast.

"Hurry up Ericson!" Mikkai barked, seeing three more coming around the back of another Geth he had just dispatched, he was taking fire.

"Got it!" Ericson said, and when he did the effects were heard.

Instantly Shepard dropped her shotgun and rifle, her hands going right for her helmet as the internal comms blared with white noise. She ripped her helmet off and discarded it, feeling her ears continually ring, and looking around she could see the others were doing the same. Looking down she could see Rinat, groaning painfully and trying pointlessly to reach for his helmet.

"Shit!" Shepard said, reaching down and tearing his own helmet off, and finding his ears were bleeding. "Sorry buddy, didn't realize."

"The fuck Ericson!" Mikkai barked, a hand over his ear and pistol still in hand.

"It did the trick sir!" Ericson called back, lifting his rifle and firing at the Geth.

Then Mikkai noticed it, there was no gunfire aside from the burst fire from Ericson's rifle, it was almost quiet. He looked around and too his surprise found the synthetics completely frozen, all of them were standing around and appeared to slowly be moving and reacting.

"Open fire!" Mikkai barked, he would question the stroke of luck later, now he wanted these things dead.

Within a few minutes they completed just that, the Geth were completely immobile for a good long while and that gave them all the time they needed to push them out. While some were able to regain some movement and control they were so far and few that the N6 squad had little trouble taking them down.

Soon the entire plaza was littered with parts, and already the teams were moving out to clear out the rest of the bastards around. Mikkai looked at the work, and he could not help but wonder how the hell Ericson had done that.

"Ericson, the hell did you do?" Mikkai demanded.

"These guys are advanced sir, really advanced, these computers used FTL communication frequencies, transmitting information to every single trooper and drone they got here and transmitting it back. From what I could see they can actually improve their runtime by having more soldiers in an area, likely whatever VI system these individual machines use actually helps with processing the information they accumulate." Ericson replied, smiling as he described what could be considered the greatest communication hub in the galaxy.

"English god dammit," Mikkai ordered.

"They quite literally are a hive mind, sharing information between each other so fast that they act instantaneously to one another. Sir, these guys are all Virtual Intelligence programs all connected to a main hub, that is why they all acted so differently, each one is a small supercomputer connected to a bigger one." Ericson said. "With that they can formulate strategies and plans of attack within milliseconds, based off every single one of their current positions and what each and every single one of them is seeing."

"Alright, now tell me this Sherlock, what did you do to slow them down? Because right now I do not give two shits why these things think faster than a hummingbird on Red Sand." Mikkai replied.

"I flooded the network, that ringing was the communication hub transmitting it into the synthetics," Ericson replied. "Pretty simple sir, all I had to do was flood the damn thing with useless information, a few archived information caches and restricting access to the network and making the information flow in one direction and voilà, they get lag."

Mikkai was impressed, the damn computer whiz actually pulled through and saved their collective asses, he may not be as smart or tech savvy as the rest but he knew how to understand enough. Now that the enemy had been deprived of this network of theirs and likely couldn't think straight it was their time to go on the offensive.

"Good work, how long do you think we got this for?" Mikkai replied.

"Maybe a few minutes, once they disconnect from the network and purge the data they will be back on their feet, but at least not as organized as before," Ericson replied, without the tower they would need to rely on short range communication and that would slow them down a bit.

"Alright, but I am guessing while that tower is still buzzing we got no comms either," Mikkai asked.

"Correct, the thing is broadcasting on all frequencies, scrambling anything nearby, sorry sir, had no choice, couldn't risk them just switching to another channel," Ericson replied.

"Doesn't matter, for now let's tear the last of these things apart and then we can see about calling down those reinforcements," Mikkai replied, pumping his shotgun and moving for the streets, there were still a lot of synthetics out there.

But before he went to join his men in killing these bastards he needed to know something first.

"By the way, we got any idea who these guys are?" Mikkai asked.

"Yeah, hard to believe really, these things are Geth, sir," Ericson replied.

* * *

Shepard blew apart another one of the Geth, its torso nearly sawn in half from the carnage shot she delivered, and smirked as it gave a dull buzz before it died. Turning she fired again, two shots and another Geth was on the ground, and she followed this up with a few more to the rest.

A grenade flew from her hands into a cluster and she watched as the explosive tore them apart at close range. Right now they were cleaning up these bastards in droves, she had lost count at fifty two, and right now she had just cleared another street.

'Alright, that should be the last of them,' Shepard thought, inwardly she wished she had her helmet so she could get some idea what was going on overhead, Joshua could tell them what was going on. But for now it was clearing the immediate vicinity and then moving on to getting reinforcements, which would be nice after surviving this place for the last hour and a half.

But from the sound of gunfire in the distance Beta Squad was likely nearby, that was good, with their help they could destroy most of these bastards before they recovered from whatever Ericson did to them.

As she turned back around to return to the plaza she immediately tensed, something was in front of her and something else was swinging right for her head. She ducked down and brought up her shotgun as a shield, both proved futile attempts to defend herself as she was catapulted off the ground.

Shepard hit the ground and eventually rolled to a stop, her arm ached and she wasn't sure if it was sprained or broken. She had little time to worry about it as she heard heavy footsteps coming towards her, glancing up she found the monolithic red synthetic was right on top of her. Rolling onto her side she avoided having her back crushed by the damn things massive foot, rolling even further away she avoided its second and third attempt.

And then when she got her shotgun up she fired, staggering it for a second before it made another attempt. Five more shot, each sending it staggering, and eventually its shields died with a crack and with a smirk she tightened her finger around the trigger for the killing shot.

But she glance down at her weapon, finding it unresponsive, the screen showing some kind of error with the weapon: Cooling Systems inoperable.

'Fuck me…' Shepard thought, this couldn't possibly be the worst moment in her life.

Seeing the Destroyer take a single step forward and raise its leg again Shepard bolted upright, saving her head from becoming nothing but mush. As she scrambled to her feet she slapped a grenade onto the side of his leg and bolted, but as she snaked under its arm she was struck in the back and catapulted forward.

With a groaned she glanced over her shoulder at the Geth, who was now strolling casually towards her. Shepard had made a choice, and reached for the remote detonator, it was a descent distance away and she was lying prone on the ground, she should be alright. With that sort of reassuring thought she pressed the detonator and less than a millisecond later the grenade detonated.

As shrapnel and dust blew over her she did not remove her arm from over her head, only when the air began to settle did she even risk a glance. But when she took a peek she was roughly pulled backward, she twisted onto her back and right there above her was the Geth. Or the upper torso of the Geth more precisely, its entire left leg was gone and most of its right along with it.

"Don't remember you guys being this hard to kill!" Shepard hissed, drawing her pistol and started firing.

A fist came down towards her head and she leaned away from it, the sickening crack of the ground reinforcing her desire not to take a single hit from these guys. She kept firing into its torso, hoping to god that she hits something that stops it, all the while this thing kept trying to pulverise her head.

"Get the fuck off of me!"

She had no way of beating this guy with a pistol right now, she needed a bigger weapon. Then it sort of came to her like that, would be risky but at the moment she had no choice. She reached over her shoulder and grabbed her sniper rifle, pulling the compacted weapon around and unfolding it right under the Geth.

Wedging the butt of the weapon to the ground and barrel against its chest she pushed the monster up, and as it dangled there for a moment she fired. A nice hole blowing right through its chest, sparks flew out of the wound, and she fired again, blowing another hole out its back. As the thing sparked and died she tilted her rifle to the side and deposited the body on the ground.

'That was hard…' Shepard thought, taking a few deep calming breaths, before she choked out her last when she heard something. 'Please not another one.'

Luckily for her it wasn't another red armoured behemoth, but it wasn't nothing either, it was a squad of three troopers, all lining up as they rushed out of the alley down the street.

With a groan of annoyance she rolled onto her stomach and then threw herself over the Geth corpse as cover, already hearing the pinging of bullets hitting against her shields as she hit the dirt. Right now she had her rifle, and sad part was that was all she had, Shotgun is damaged, pistol discarded and sniper rifle embedded in the chest of the Geth she is using as a meat shield.

"When did this become mess with Shepard week?" Shepard growled, leaning up and firing at her attackers, who were now slowly advancing towards her.

With another growl she ducked back into cover and opted to fire blinding at them, they were within ten meters of her and not a single one of them was down yet. She reached for her grenades, hoping she had one to spare, but to her greater misfortune she had nothing left. A loud exclamation escaped her throat as she lifted her weapon to fire at the incoming Geth.

'This is not where I am going to die,' Shepard promised herself, she had fought too hard to get where she is to die so easily.

But when she was forced back down into cover, just barely taking out two of the Geth's shields before she dropped she knew she was in deep shit.

Then as if the heavens above had decided to take mercy on her she heard gunfire, not the typical stuff from the Geth though, this was Alliance Marine gunfire. The cavalry had arrived, and with that she bolted upright and started firing right into the flanked machined, tearing down the two remaining synthetics before leaping to her feet.

"Friendlies, left side!"

Shepard turned, but kept her weapon trained to the ground, and found to her surprised two Alliance marines just near a side street. One wore a pink and white bodysuit and the other a standard military grey, the latter of the two being supported by the former.

"Thanks for the assist," Shepard said, holstering her weapon and rushing over to the two.

They woman in white and pink slowly put her friend down, her long brown hair tied into a bun on the back of her head and her face marred with dirt and dried blood. But her friend seemed no better off, she looked find none the less but right now Shepard could tell she was in a coma.

"She needs medical attention," Shepard said, grabbing one arm and pulling her up. "Come on, we can take her to the Plaza, we got people there, and we will be getting reinforcements soon, we can help where when they land."

"Thank god, I thought we would be stuck fighting these bastards off until they left or we died," She replied. "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, Unit 212, Dog Squad."

"Staff Lieutenant Jessica Shepard, N6," She replied back, both of them dragging the unconscious woman with them towards the Plaza.


	8. Chapter 8

**Well here it is, the long awaited chapter for Are We Alone. I know many of you have been waiting for this chapter for a long while and I apologise for not getting it out any sooner. But with my other stories and with how things have been going for me I have been busy as hell. But now I am working on this some more and intend to update it regularly.**

 **So I hope you enjoy this chapter and all the glory of it. Got a friend from school to help me edit it, he is awesome. I think you will notice a massive upturn in quality with this piece. Simply amazing.**

 **Are We Alone**

 **Chapter 08: A True Reaper**

 **Pishon, Eden Prime**

Major Mikkai looked down at the piece of paper that currently served as his only map of the colony. With the damn tech down they'd been forced to repurpose a map for tourists into something that vaguely resembled a strategic map, with the end result looking as if a toddler had attacked it with a faulty fountain pen. Dots marking enemies overlapped with messy chicken scratch words, until the entire thing was practically a blob of red. Barely half the words were even legible and, in Mikkai's opinion, the thing was about as useful as a piece of paper someone had bled on and then declared a 'map'.

"Sir, Captain Anderson was on the horn, we're getting those reinforcements. They'll be dropping boots in twenty." Despite the supposedly good news, Ericson's face was grim.

"Good, but I can tell you're dreading to tell me something else." Mikkai prompted, deciding he'd better know before it bit them all in the ass.

"Beta squad sir, we found them… all KIA." Ericson replied, hands behind his back and doing his best to keep his face neutral and ignore the despair that had settled in his gut, heavy as a stone.

Mikkai raised his fist up, ready to slam it down on the table, but hesitated for a moment. He let out a breath and rested his palm against the map, ignoring the way things smeared so much like blood under his hand. Couldn't get bogged down yet, couldn't let the moral fall for they had a lot more work ahead of them. A lot more fighting, and, sadly, a lot more dying.

After a moment, Mikkai asked, "They went down fighting?"

"Took at least three hundred of the bastards down with them, sir. That army we were getting torn apart by was what got them. They're pretty much the reason we're still alive." Ericson explained, giving a helpless shrug. "I say they saved our arses sir."

Mikkai didn't doubt that; they had landed in the hottest part of the township and they all paid for it with bodies and blood. Their sacrifice had allowed them to succeed here and he was proud of that. Yet it still stung that all those good boys he sent out were cold and dead, and he would make sure they got their commendations later. But now they had a battle to win, an invasion to stop, and an ass-kicking to deliver.

"What about the Geth?" Mikkai asked. "What have they been up to since we took this location?"

"Don't know, they seem to be focusing on the Space Port and Main Colony. However, on the comms we're getting some scattered chatter on a few military channels, but we don't know if it's any of the marines that are still alive or just civilians looking to try and contact anyone they can." Ericson responded with a shrug. With how scrambled everything was, there was absolutely no way of picking anything specific out. "Once we get some of the gear down here we can see about what's happening outside this little hamlet."

"Good man, let me know as soon as it touches down; I want to speak with the Captain." Mikkai instructed, and the man saluted him before rushing from the room.

Mikkai knew that they had about a thousand marines on hand and not a single bad soldier among them, with all of them hardened and strong. You had to be to take the fight to the Batarians near the border of their space. If you weren't you didn't walk away alive, simple as that. To have these soldiers here and ready to fight was a miracle. Had they not been sent or if there had been a few hours difference, this entire incident may have gone unnoticed until it was over.

Mikkai prayed for small miracles like these; it was what turned battles and even wars in favor of those who knew how to take advantage of such a rare opportunity, and he wasn't going to waste this chance. He was going to be leading the Alliance Marines and his N6's against these machine bastards, and he was going to make them remember today as the day they thought they could fuck with humanity. But with that thought, the Major was brought back to demoralizing reality with a glance at the shitty little map he was using and scowled at the near illegible scrawl drawn all over it. He really should have kept the glass casing that was over it. Cracked as it had been, it would have made it a good deal easier to rub off unneeded markings instead of having to irritably scribble over it and just mark up the paper further. But until he got some actual logistics and a descent holomap, this was the best he had. Hell, he'd take another copy of the same map so long as the glass was intact- he couldn't afford to be picky anymore.

"Sir, dropships are touching down, and Shepard found two survivors." Joshua said, leaning in through the doorway. "Also, Anderson and Hackett are both on the line; we've got a direct connection to them both set up outside."

Mikkai nodded and quickly followed him out. The dropships where there just as promised, with marines pouring out of them and into the square they'd taken and defended. Around two hundred of them were in formations across the twenty by forty open plot of dirt, the only thing that stood out were the many crates filled with as much weaponry as they could reasonably carry. Which was a lot, since they were initially heading towards the Verge and were thus thoroughly stocked with a nice range of goodies for the inevitable fights. Even a few pieces of experimental tech had been added in for "field testing".

"Hackett and Anderson are waiting, sir. Also, the survivor is saying… well, you have to hear this, sir…"

"I will get to her after I speak with the Captain and Admiral." Mikkai said, ignoring Ericson as he was pulled aside so the Major could speak with his superiors.

Admiral Hackett and Captain Anderson looked as grim as usual on the screens, their mouths pressed into a needle-thin lines and brows creased. If he didn't know them well enough he would have thought them impartial to all that was going on. But deep down they were seething with festering rage they kept under tight lock and key until it was needed. Such a coordinated attack on Eden Prime at such a pivotal moment was one of the few things that could infuriate the two men to such a degree, for it reeked of a traitor.

The Council's sanctions that had been effectively choking their colonies for a long time now had finally reached their logical conclusion with hundreds dead in an attack they had neither the manpower nor resources to fight off. One of humanity's most important worlds and in just one attack it'd be crippled for months to come, with colony plans set back even further as more people grew afraid of the vast wilderness of space. When this was over, the sanctions being immediately dissolved would be the absolute minimum anyone would accept, and not even the meekest politician would be anything less than unmovable on the issue. The Council was certainly going to get flattened under the might of humanity's united voice when the final reports were released and demands for revenge were made. It would be brutal and there was little doubt other non-Council races would smell the blood in the water and dogpile the issues while sneaking in their own personal problems into the dialogue.

Personally, Anderson couldn't wait.

"Admiral, Captain, we've gotten everyone groundside and are ready to move out on your orders." Mikkai said, folding his hands behind his back and schooling his features.

"Good, I want any civilians evacuated and the Geth neutralized." Hackett ordered with his authority clear. "At your discretion Anderson, I already have the Third Fleet moving out. They will be there in an hour or two."

"I'll see you then Admiral. Mikkai, what's the current status on the Geth? Do you know why they're here?" Anderson inquired.

"Through basic scouting and what I'm reading now shows they have attacked the main Spaceport in the area. The surrounding colonies have been raided thoroughly, but that appears to be mostly incidental. The Geth seem to be localized around the ship they came in on." Mikkai said, looking over the sizable amount of data they were receiving from the deployed drones.

Anderson nodded stiffly and said the one thing everyone knew, "If they have taken the Spaceport then there is only one thing they could be after."

It had always been obvious the Geth were here for the Beacon, this only just confirmed what they had expected. The Spaceport was the pickup point for the Prothean Artefact and it had beeb there that they intended to collect it and then get the hell out of dodge before real reinforcements could arrive. It was the only explanation that fit the Geth's current behavior patterns, and, considering the otherwise sheer coincidence of the timing, a whole lot of sense.

"The Beacon, how the hell did they know about it?" Hackett growled. They had been damn careful with that information and taken painstaking measures to insure it remained under wraps. Only a few key people had even heard a rumor that it existed, and it was to such a point that he had neglected to tell even his fellow officers about it.

He was certain that only the Captain knew about what they were picking up, so how was it that the Geth found out about this closely guarded secret? But as worrying as the thoughts of a potential leak was, such things could come later, when there wasn't a firefight close enough that the sound of shots still rang out and the Beacon was once again secured. If the Geth were so desperate to have it then it must been even more valuable than ever thought and could not, under any circumstances, fall into their hands.

"Unknown, but right now we have our men ready to move. We've got heavy armor and a lot of people itching to get some payback on these bastards. We just need to finish scouting their locations and we can begin the assault." Mikkai said.

"Do not engage the enemy until you know exactly what you're dealing with; the Geth are a virtually unknown combatant here. For now, securing the Beacon is your top priority. I want your men personally to see about getting it back." Hackett ordered. If they could retrieve the Beacon, then maybe the Geth would leave once they were deprived of their goal. "They want it, so we need it, and if we lose it to the Geth there is no telling what kind of problems we'll be dealing with in the future. Get it back at all costs."

"I understand perfectly, sir. I will get my best men on it." Mikkai declared with a salute.

"Sir!"

Mikkai turned and looked over, finding one of his N6's standing there beside a marine in white and pink light armor. She definitely wasn't part of his unit so she must be the survivor Ericson had mentioned earlier. But he didn't have time to deal with this now.

"Shepard, not now." Mikkai dismissed, waving her away and turning back to the waiting Captain and Admiral. "Apologies, Admiral."

"No need, Major. Shepard, I see that the second chance we gave you wasn't wasted, good to know." Hackett said, glancing through the screen towards the N6 operative.

"It wasn't, sir, but we have information that is paramount you hear immediately. We may have an edge against the Geth, sir." Shepard reported quickly, before conversation could start up again. Those present frowned curiously at her eager, borderline gleeful, tone, as if she'd just been given a fantastic present.

"What is it?" Anderson asked.

"There is an anomaly here." Shepard stated, and the whole plaza seemed to go quiet as the totality of that single fact hit her officers. Their opinions were divided on the anomalies, but since they always helped humanity the news was nothing but good now. There was no need to say any more, but Shephard herself felt hope bubbling in her heart as she remembered the one who'd saved her life, "Specifically, the Guardian of Elysium. It's Ichigo."

The three looked at one another, words not leaving their lips as they tried to digest this revelation. There was an anomaly on this planet, and one of the more famous ones who'd been a ghost since his first appearance Elysium. To say it was earthshattering news was putting it lightly. Already Mikkai could hear some people within earshot muttering to one another, spreading the news like wildfire on a dried and desolate plain. Within seconds, moral had soared like a ship taking off, many of the hardened men there looking as if they were already over the moon and reaching deep space, victory assured to them all.

The teen had become a symbol to the Human Alliance; a representation of the might of humanity and that powerful gods protect them. If he was here, then it was inevitable that the people would rally at sight of him and follow him willingly into the hell of battle. To even know that he was on the planet would make everyone think they could win this with twigs and rocks if they had no other choice, for their god would surely cut down all their enemies.

"Where was he?" Hackett asked, voice steady even as his own excitement built.

"Near the Dig Site, sir; not to far where the Beacon was found." Ashley replied. "That was less than three hours ago, he might still be around there. The Geth were all over that place last I checked, and he seemed pretty intent on destroying them."

Hackett was silent for a moment, his eyes downcast and thinking hard on something, and Shepard figured he was trying to decide if it was safe to send in people. Not because they feared an attack by Ichigo, but the sheer number of enemies between them and the target. They had the logistics on the enemy numbers and what exactly they would be facing, but even so, with someone like Ichigo there was there even a real threat? That guy could take down entire armies himself, by the time they even got close all the Geth might very well be destroyed. All they needed to do was mop up the ones he left behind, if there even were any. He had been very thorough on Elysium after all.

"Major." Hackett said, and Mikkai snapped to attention. "Get your team together, you are going in now."

* * *

Saren paced up and down the walkways near the tram in a futile attempt to settle his nerves. Things were not going as smoothly as he had anticipated, and though he was confident his mission would still succeed, it was taking a toll on his mind. He cast a glance across the long valley below the cliffs of the transit station, and from there he could see three colonies in the distance. They were unremarkable, separated by open flat fields and some farmlands, but one particular colony was now peppered with the forms of multiple System Alliance aircraft.

He snarled, cursing his wretched luck. He'd known that the System Alliance had been set to arrive soon to retrieve the Beacon, but he hadn't expected them to send an entire fleet. It didn't matter, he had an entire army looking for those ruins right now and as soon as they found the burial chamber he would have the Beacon. He didn't have to win any sort of fight and the Geth were completely expendable. So long as he kept things moving quickly, they'd be off planet with the Beacon before the Alliance could make it even half way to the Space Port.

" _Saren-Prophet, danger is close, Entity three point eight kilometers from your position. Consensus recommends immediate departure."_

Saren scowled as he heard the report. It was one of a dozen he had received regarding some sort of…entity that the Geth were fighting. They hadn't been specific about what this entity was and simply referred to it as an unknown but powerful pseudo-organic when he asked for more information. Its apparent difficulty to kill and whatever that actually meant didn't matter; soon the Beacon would be secured and then loaded onto the tram. In less than an hour he would be departing for the Space Port and effectively unreachable, and Saren knew very well the Alliance would have to fight for every inch towards his position.

But this entity seemed to be different.

"I want to know what this entity is, now!" Saren barked, tired of these scattered reports that only gave barely decipherable information.

" _Information fragmented, unknown interference from entity causing network jamming. Update: Danger close, Entity two point-one kilometers from position, accelerating north-west. Immediate departure recommended._ " Was the crisp reply over the Omni-tool, just as useless as the last few responses.

"Spirit damn it, give me a visual on this thing then!" Saren ordered. He was sick of this guessing game the machines seemed to enjoy playing. If they couldn't identify it, then he would do it himself.

" _Affirmative, compiling fragmented visual files now._ "

Soon the files began to fill the screen of his Omni-tool, giving him terribly static-filled stilled images of the so-called entity. It was so horribly distorted and blurred he could barely tell where the black of the figure ended and the surrounding world began. He couldn't even tell the species of whatever he was looking at, and the sheer difficulty of it all almost made him considerate of the Geth's plight.

Whatever the figure was, it appeared fairly tall and almost a pure black smudge streaked with white in the distorted picture. What Saren assumed were its arms seemed bizarrely disproportionate, one significantly longer than the other, and nothing but sharp black lines with a few strange lighter patches. The only real color that could be seen was a smudge of orange near the figure's assumed head. It looked vaguely like fur, no, more like the hair of humans when kept short. But that hardly made any sense, no human could fight through so many Geth, and there were still its arms that looked too long.

Something wasn't adding up, and Saren felt himself fixate on the unusual color, 'Orange… where have I seen that…?'

" _Danger close, Entity nine hundred meters from position, south west. Immediate departure recommended. Update: Target approaching location, sending in all available forces to intercept_."

Saren stiffened in shock. How could it be moving so fast? It had covered over three kilometers in only a handful of minutes and seemed to be hardly slowed by the waves of Geth in its way. This couldn't be human; it had to be some kind of monstrosity that… looked human.

Eyes wide and mandibles flared, Saren stared at the clearest picture he'd gotten, and everything fell into place. The orange _was_ human hair and its arms weren't deformed at all; in its hands were those two iconic swords. It was an anomaly, one of those so called gods that humanity had started praying to, thinking them some sort of bloody saviors. What were the even the odds that one of those things turned up on the one planet Saren happened to be on? Of all the times for one to appear and interfere it had to be now?

"No… no!" Saren roared, slamming his cybernetic fist into the closest breakable object near him.

The Geth had its chest caved in and inner circuitry shredded, but Saren hardly cared another of those worthless machines had been destroyed. The Turian Spectre continued to roar damnation, cursing his _absolutely wretched_ luck. If one of those things was here then there was nothing they could do to stop it- he could throw literally every Geth in existence at it and the anomaly would rip through the millionth as easily as it had the first. They could only hinder and maybe distract it, but that would only buy them a few minutes at most.

But Saren only needed a few minutes.

"Contact all platforms, get them into the field and engaging this thing, distract it for as long as possible!" Saren ordered. If he bought them enough time then they could find the Beacon then leave and get away from that thing. He just needed to keep it away from where they were searching.

There was too much riding on this to fail now; he couldn't allow himself to fail Sovereign. Saren knew that failure here would mean more than just his death, but actually the end of all species in this galaxy. Even the anomalies, as strong as they were, wouldn't stand a chance. But as the minutes ticked by and the Geth reporting to him flickered out one after another like weak flames in a windstorm, Saren felt himself grow uneasy. What if there simply weren't enough bodies that could get in the anomaly's way?

"S _aren-Prophet, Prothean Excavation Site located. Beacon secured for transport._ "

Saren nearly slumped in relief when the communication came in, moments before he allowed himself to sink into dark thoughts. His near-despair evaporated and finally the mission seemed possible. Finding the Beacon was the hard part, now all they needed to do was flee as fast as they could. There were surely enough Geth left to buy them that much time.

"All Platforms continue previous instruction, but lead the anomaly away from the excavation crew transporting the Beacon and the Spaceport. Make sure he does not get near here!" Saren ordered. The anomaly, as powerful as it was, couldn't stop what it didn't know about.

Saren turned and waved to the troops, and the Geth fell into line behind him with perfect precision. He was going to escort the Beacon himself and personally make sure it made its way back. There was no way he'd take even a single chance that it would be intercepted by anyone, be they the anomaly or the Alliance. Even if he has serious doubts he could ever stand up to the absolute might of that monster, he knew Sovereign was capable of destroying it in a matter of seconds. Nothing could possibly stand against a being such as him, creatures who had existed for millions of years without ever once being bested.

" **Saren…** "

The Spectre nearly stumbled as he felt the words reverberate through his skull, his biotic implant flaring up as his new 'master' spoke directly to him.

" **Make for the Beacon and ensure its protection. The Geth have failed in their duty to dispatch a single unknown and I will not tolerate such failure with this simple task.** " Sovereign commanded, all-powerful and all-consuming.

"Yes, Sovereign, but the unknown is one of the anomalies. I believe it is Ichigo from Elysium." Saren said, trying to warn the Reaper of the dilemma.

" **This entity is a known danger, hasten your efforts and collect the Beacon and the contents within. If that is not possible, destroy it.** " Sovereign ordered. " **I will not allow anomalies to interfere in this cycle.** "

* * *

Shepard slammed into cover as a spray of rounds pinged off her shields. The Geth certainly had put up a bit of resistance around the Dig Site, guarding their prize viciously. Ashley had been helpful and informed them of the Beacon's location and how to best reach the site, but that had been the easy part.

The hard part came with the amount of damn Geth they had in their way.

Either their information had been wrong, or something had chanced, because there had to be a hundred of the bastards instead of the two dozen they'd been warned about, crawling like ants over practically every surface. They'd entrenched themselves in the Science Camp that stood between them and the Dig Site, packed so tight they were practically on top of one another. Shepard had a team of about twelve with her that were all N6's, excluding Ashley, and even they were struggling to stand their ground, much less push ahead.

"What are we dealing with here?" Shepard called over the comms.

"A lot of Geth, heavily entrenched and looking to make sure nothing gets into the Dig Site!" Was the reply over the line from Sergeant Greer. "I'm picking out large walkers as well!"

Shepard peaked over to see that he was right; massive quadruped Armatures that were effectively tanks that killed you with a hard look. She was being quite literal, since they had a pulse cannon of all things embedded in the head, making it both anti-infantry and anti-vehicle. If they were mounting this kind of defense to keep them out, then the Beacon was surely still there.

"Ashley! Where did you say the Beacon was?" Shepard barked out.

"We hid it within the chamber where it was found when we heard gunfire! We had it all ready to be excavated and transported to the Spaceport in sight of an hour!" Ashley replied, rising up and firing a quick burst at the Geth trooper.

She scratched their shields but did nothing else.

"Do you think they're still looking for it?" Shephard heard a shout over the comms that was nearly drowned out as an Armature nearly took her left arm. Back into cover it was then.

Shepard didn't have the faintest clue as to what the Geth were doing. Their tactics were completely contradicting what she'd expected to happen the moment she saw how completely outnumbered they were. The Geth were employing a Fortification tactic and had entrenched themselves into the Camp and were refusing to budge, holding off the troopers with sheer numbers. That wasn't right, why hold back and defend against a group of twelve when you had heavy support and vastly superior numbers? If she were in change, Shephard would have ordered a full assault and overwhelmed the enemy instantly, so why hadn't they done that? Was it a possible the Geth were flanking them even though there was no need to do so? Were they trying to hold the Dig Site completely just to make sure that something unexpected didn't happen?

"Rochelle! You got eyes on any other enemy movement around us?" Shepard asked, pressing a hand against her helmet and ear to try and drown out some of the gunfire to hear the reply.

Rochelle took a moment to response, but it was a simple "Negative" before the crack of a Sniper Rifle being fired off rang out a second later. An instant later a shield shattered and a distant Geth crumpled to the ground with its head blown clean off. Rochelle had been set up on a ridge about eight hundred yards from their position and was picking off targets and giving them logistics on the area.

"Only activity I got is about three point one kilometers to the South-East, Geth are currently engaging something en masse." Rochelle replied, ending the communication with another bang of her rifle. "There's got to be a thousand or more Geth down there, and they're all converging onto something."

Shepard scowled, that at least meant they didn't have to worry about an attack from the rear or sides. Logically, if the vast majority of their army was moving towards that one spot, and whatever there was still alive, then that likely meant that was there Ichigo was located. No one else would be able to hold off when surrounded on all side like that. But what was with the intense defense they were encountering here? There had to be a reason..

"Can you see into the Dig Site? I need to know what's going on in there!" Shepard ordered.

Finally she rose up and started firing, a solid burst to the nearest Geth's chest took its shields and faux life in one blow. Littered with holes, it fell brokenly and Shephard mirrored it, diving to cover as her own shields flared with warnings. Tucked tight, she waited for them to recycle and recharge as bullets and charges soaring over her head. If the Geth were on the defensive than maybe they were worried about Ichigo, and Shepard couldn't blame them. But he wasn't here, so was all this for them? To keep them away from the Beacon as it was located or even being transported away?

"Got something…" Rochelle said, halting for a moment. "I got a Turian at the Dig Site; he seems to be in command."

"A Turian? What the hell is one of them doing here?" Shepard said, grunting as her boulder was rocked by a pulse blast from an Armature.

"Unknown, but there aren't that many reasons… Shepard! I've got sight of the Beacon! They've already found it and are already wheeling it out of there!" Rochelle shouted, a bit frantic but trained though to still be steady enough to fire off another shot, deadly as always.

"Shit! Alright boys we need to pick up the pace here!" Shepard ordered, turning out of cover and firing for all she was worth.

If the Beacon was in motion they needed to get to it before they lost it. Whatever the Geth wanted it for couldn't be good, and she wasn't about to let it fall into their hands. In a flurry of shots she downed two Geth and tore an arm from a third before her gun overheated and wailed angrily in protest. The retaliation hit nothing but air as she dove back behind her cover. Mentally counting down the seconds until the gun cooled, Shephard breathed deeply and moved to the other side, repeating the entire process and praying the Geth didn't wise up.

"Put the lead out! We need to get to the Beacon!" Shepard barked.

"Ma'am, we've got two walkers and about eighty infantry between you and that Beacon, not to mention any turrets they've set up. There's no way we're getting in now." Rochelle, ever the realist, pointed out.

Shepard cursed. They needed a damn miracle right about now.

Then she had a crazy idea she should have dismissed the minute it entered her mind. But she didn't.

"Rochelle! Do you have eyes on Ichigo in that big ass battle three clicks away?" Shepard asked. A moment of silence insured in which time she took a moment to shoot a Geth that had gotten too close.

"Yeah, I can make him out through the scope. He's a ways away though."

"Ping him."

A confused pause, "Ma'am?"

"Shoot him and get his attention!" Shepard shouted, firing around the edge until her rifle overheated. Again. Someone really needed to do something about that.

"Uh… I don't think I can do that."

"You have a recorded kill range of four klicks; I've seen you do it!" Shepard responded, leaning back into cover as her shields shattered. "We'll never reach him, so hit him and make him come to us!"

Rochelle's voice was meek and surprisingly girlish with her next hesitant works, "I… don't want to die."

Shephard blinked, a little taken aback by the sudden shift in the soldier's attitude. It made sense, but there wasn't time to think of a polite way to get their only hope's attention. "We will die if the Geth decide to rush us! So turn that sniper onto him and fire!"

"God dammit." Rochelle grumbled.

She still trailed her gun on Ichigo. At least his bright hair made him easy to pick out.

* * *

Ichigo lazily swung his sword and half a dozen Geth exploded into flying shrapnel and wires. Two attempted to overwhelm him, one at his front firing nearly point-blank in the teen's face while another leapt at him from behind. Ichigo stabbed the machine who'd shot him, tearing it half and blinked the annoying spots out of his eyes as sparking remains rained to the ground. Metal screamed behind him and the Geth who'd attempted the tackle crumpled to pieces, raw pressure of Ichigo's reiatsu crushing it nearly flat.

'I don't have time for this.' Ichigo thought, irritation growing with each weak Geth he cut down. He could barely take a step before yet another of the robots was there, attempting to kill him and being all kinds of annoying. He would have thought the machines would have realized they weren't about to win after he destroyed the first hundred or so, but no, they just kept coming like some endless suicidal swarm.

He hadn't even wanted to fight these so-called Geth, but as soon as they'd seen him they'd started attacking him obsessively. They seemed to flood in from all corners of the colony, crawling from the houses and side paths in a never ending stream of mechanical limbs. But Ichigo's mission wasn't to deal with the never-ending horde, but instead to location a single someone. Mindless slaughter such as this wasn't on the menu and reminded Ichigo of Elysium a bit, but with significantly less blood. In fact, the entire thing was so similar that Ichigo was starting to worry that, not only would his target escape, but he would also become more powerful once again.

'Best end this quick.'

Raising his blade to the heavens, he bathed it in his spiritual energy, saturated the very air until the power was thick and heavy. He swung a wide arc, the wave of strength given form destroying all before him and leaving behind nothing but scorched earth. Another rippling crescent devoured the stunned Geth behind him a heartbeat later, leaving the teen alone among the destruction. But Ichigo didn't allow himself to relax, already seeing the lights of more Geth approach him. The longer things dragged on, the more Ichigo considered just simply ignoring the machines and getting on his mission. But getting shot constantly was annoying as hell, and ever since they'd decided to start trying to dogpile him, he could barely see where anything was. He might walk right past his target without even realizing it because there was a _wall of Geth_ blocking his sight.

There was no way anyone could accuse him of clearing out the Geth _only_ to protect the locals. And if completing his mission and protecting innocents just so happened to overlap, well, wasn't that convenient?

"I don't understand it…" Ichigo vented his thoughts, glaring at the approaching Geth as if that would stop them. His general confusion had nothing to do with the suicidal Geth, maybe they thought he would eventually wear down or something, no, it had to do with his target's choice of location. How in the world could he have known that there would be a battle of this scale going on an otherwise peacefully world?

Yet somehow he was able to be in the right place at the right time and had once again disappeared among the chaos. Ichigo had been given a very thorough explanation of just how dangerous his target could be under the right circumstances, which had been…less than reassuring. With that in mind, Ichigo took advantage of the brief break he had and expanded his senses, trying to locate the tainted spiritual signature.

"If he feeds on war and conflict then he would be wherever there's the most fighting. That should be here, but I can't find him." Ichigo mused. "Just where are you…?"

Something hit the back of his head. Probably yet another bullet, yet a quick glance over his shoulder and he saw that none of the Geth had snuck behind him. In fact, there wasn't anyone near him and for a second Ichigo wondered if he'd just imagined it somehow. Yet, as if to spite him, another shot hit the dead-center of his forehead. Nope, that was definitely a sniper, and a fairly good one at that, since he couldn't even see them. And one who was dumb enough to try and shoot him, probably thinking he couldn't reach them.

"Alright, who's doing that?" Ichigo grumbled, turning around fully and daring the sniper to take another shot. He'd show them just how little that distance mattered.

Then he got shot in the crotch.

"Mother. Fucker."

In an instant he took off into a burst of Shunpo, leaving behind an army of confused Geth and covering the distance between himself and the sniper's perch in a heartbeat's time. Reappearing a few kilometers away, he was surprised to find a startled woman who immediately took a knee before him. He strode up closer to her, full of confidence, and could see her practically shaking before him, obviously terrified out of her mind. As mad as he was, he wasn't about to kill her, her reiatsu distinctly human. But still…

"Not nice hitting people below the belt you know." Ichigo said with his voice deadpan as he reeled in his temper.

"Yeah… sorry…" Rochelle replied, but still swallowed her fear and pointed towards the distance, "Listen I was ordered to, okay! I just needed to get you here to help!"

Ichigo, long having learned to tune out gunfire, finally noticed the fighting and felt vague interest. So he hadn't been the only one being swarmed by those machines? He looked and wasn't too surprised when he saw a dozen marines in a firefight against seven times as many Geth. He scowled at the battle below, instantly seeing just how odd things were going down there. The Geth had had little to no qualm throwing themselves to their destruction, so it wasn't any sense of self-preservation that was holding the machines back. So there had to be something else going on, something that, if suddenly changed, would see the soldiers below swarmed and killed in a few seconds.

He leaped off the edge of the plateau and launched himself towards the Geth's main defensive line.

Ichigo smashed into the nearest troops with the force of a natural disaster. Unstoppable, three were cut down, bisected, and a fourth fell with a quick stab from his shorter blade. The Geth, even with their calculating minds allowing them to process events down to the millisecond, were unable to quickly react and counter any of the strikes. Metal, wires, and synthetic flesh shredded before the whistle of the blades had even begun, Ichigo nothing but a ruthless predator at slaughter. An Armature, away from the death, tried to turn its head to attack. But the whine of its cannon had barely started before it was blown to piece by a single high-pressure slash from one of Ichigo's blades.

"Move up! Give him support!"

Ichigo heard the call and ignored it; the thought was nice, but did he look like he needed it? He ignored the humans, not the least bit worried about friendly fire, and hacked the Geth apart, making sure to keep his strength in check. It wouldn't be good if he accidently blew half the colony off the map because he got careless.

Finished, the Shinigami huffed, 'Now I just need to figure out where…'

"My god, it _is_ him."

Dread settled in Ichigo's heart at those words, spoken with such raw awe and reverence made him cringe. Facing the music, the teen turned and grimaced at the looks of shock and even borderline worship he saw on the soldier's faces. It was one thing to hear about the waves his actions had caused in human society, but it was another entirely to see it for himself. He was sure that if the people before him were anything but hardened vets, they would have fallen to their knees and started _worshiping_ him. With each passing day, more and more humans began to put Shinigami on the pedestal labeled "God", and Ichigo had no doubt today's events would only make it all worse.

'Just another screw up that people are going to hold over my head now.'

Ichigo was firmly in the camp that humanity wouldn't forget about Shinigami even if they did hole up and disappear for a hundred or more years. Technology had gone far and the proof had spread so far so fast there was no way it could ever all be erased. Video evidence would be out there forever now; they were long past the point of erasing a few memories and moving on. Legend and Myth had been one thing; easy to counteract and it naturally distorted with time until virtually no truth remained, if not forgotten entirely. But nowadays? They had his face all over the Extranet and on damn bed sheets.

"I am Staff Lieutenant Jessica Shepard," A woman with darker armor and a pale face introduced, walking up to him with a nod. "thank you for the assist."

Ichigo looked to the dark haired woman who seemed significantly less star-struck than the others in her squad. That didn't mean she wasn't clearly excited, expression as bright as a kid meeting Santa Claus. He shifted, uncomfortable with all the worship he was receiving and decided it would be better if he didn't say anything more than necessary. It wouldn't be good if he revealed something he shouldn't and started yet _another_ intergalactic incident. Even telling them what he was, a Shinigami, would be too much.

If they realized that their new "gods" were called Shinigami, literally a 'Death God', there was no telling what kind of crap would result from that. Shinigami were fairly obscure in human history, but there were records, most of them not good and very inaccurate, and the things people would begin to assume would be terrible. The last thing they needed were people seeing them as spirits that encouraged suicide, and the fallout of that made Ichigo's head hurt. He could already see the cults committing mass suicide to try and coax Shinigami into appearing before them.

"Listen…"

That was as far as she got before Ichigo vanished from sight, leaving behind a group of awestruck N6 soldiers and a massive pile of Geth scrap.

"Lieutenant, I've tracked him from the Dig Site; he's moving towards the Space Port." Rochelle reported, snapping Shepard out of her stunned stupor.

"Alright, form up! We are going after that Beacon!"

* * *

Saren strode towards the Spaceport, the Beacon secure on the tram and ready to be taken to the second platform. He would activate it there and then prepare the nuclear warheads; he couldn't leave a single trace behind. And maybe, if he was lucky, the blast would be enough to also incinerate that damn anomaly. He was concerned though, as the creature masquerading as a human had disappeared from the Geth that had been stalling it. Worse yet, the Dig Site platforms had suddenly stopped reporting, and he had a good idea on who was responsible for that.

It would be best to make sure they couldn't be followed, "I want you all to make sure nothing gets onto this platform, destroy the trams if you need to, but do not…"

Midway through his commands there was the distinct whistle of air being displaced. Surprised, Saren turned and felt his blood chill to ice, freezing him in place at the sight of the anomaly. Behind him the three Geth Primes Saren had had in his routine had been destroyed, their bodies sliding apart from impossibly clean cuts.

"Get the Beacon out of here!" Saren roared, whirling around to face the anomaly head-on.

Immediately the tram powered up and raced down the rail, disappearing from sight within a few seconds. Saren drew his side arm, not the least bit comforted by the somewhat puzzled expression on the anomaly's face. He knew for a fact that it, or anything he was capable of, would do little to stop this thing, but that didn't mean Saren was about to let himself be completely helpless. And he was perfectly fine serving as bait.

Ichigo strode after the alien, mostly curious about the seemingly random Turian clearly leading the Geth army. That went against everything he knew, so maybe-

A sharp blast that Ichigo vaguely recognized as a carnage shot hit his back, harmlessly dispersing. He turned to see yet another large hulking machine he was getting sick of seeing swing down its massive three fingered fist, trying to pulverize his skull. Ichigo caught it easily, bored from all the constant attacks, and threw the Geth into a nearby wall. Concrete exploded outward as the wall caved in, leaving a smear of synthetic flesh and metal on the floor.

Annoyance gone, Ichigo continued the line of thought that'd escaped him briefly. No, there was no way the Turian was the one he was after. A disguise was entirely possible, but he wouldn't resort to using something as mundane as a gun. 'Definitely isn't him, but if I take him out maybe it can stop the fighting.'

A Shunpo later and Ichigo was abruptly in front Turian, larger blade drawn high to cut the alien down and move on. But to his surprise the blade sliced through nothing but the air, and for a second Ichigo nearly stumbled from the lack of resistance. Ichigo easily located the Turian some twenty feet away, wisps of biotic power clinging to him.

'Didn't expect that…' Ichigo mused and decided that the repetitive Geth had made him sloppy. The Turian seemed stronger, and was most certainly faster, but catching up and then trailing the fleeing alien still wasn't much of a chore.

Biotics shrouded Saren's form like a second skin, empowering and propelling him forward at dazzling speeds that were nearly impossible to following with the human eye. But Ichigo found the speed nothing worth wild and was suddenly by the Turian's side, ready to literally cut his legs out from under him. Saren panicked and threw all his biotic fields and shields out and into the Shinigami's exposed chest. The Turian was sent flying from the concussive force of his own improvised attack, while Ichigo stumbled back a half-step, shaking he head at the vague tickling sensation the biotics gave him.

'This guy is actually making me hound him, first time for everything.' Ichigo mused, finding the entire experience novel. It was the first time he'd fought any humanoid enemy who could dodge him without the aid of any sort of spiritual pressure.

But enough was enough, and Ichigo quickly schooled himself as he watched biotics flare and his opponent once again took off. He was done missing because he wasn't taking this guy seriously, and decided his third strike would be his last. Ichigo stepped and cleared the distance the Turian had made instantly, appearing several yards straight ahead of him, sword ready. Momentum too strong to stop, Saren attempted to swerve, but the black blade followed him and carved through his arm and chest as if the metal and muscle was nothing but air.

The arm flew free, severed from its host and hit the ground with a wet splat. Ichigo looked at the strange prosthetic arm curiously. He'd meant to bisect the Turian, but through some combination of reflexes, instincts, and biotic power, the alien had just managed to avoid that bloody death, a deep and perfectly smooth line carved deep into his chest. Just shallow enough to avoid instant death, but certainly fatal within a few minutes without treatment. Probably pretty painful too, and Ichigo wondered if he should put the Turian out of his misery before he slowly bled to death.

"Dammit!" Saren hissed, remaining arm trying to put pressure on the wound and stop his life blood from spilling out, but the cut was too clean and armor too stiff to make much of a difference. At best he was able to keep the blood pooling in the slash where he prayed it would clot faster. It was absolute agony, but he knew the pain was a good thing for it meant he wasn't about to pass out from blood loss. He counted his lucky stars that his prosthetic arm was the one severed, for it bled a whole lot less and he'd have probably already gone into shock otherwise.

Ichigo watched the Turian managed to roll over onto his back and clutch at the gaping wound desperately. He had to respect the guy for being able to survive this long, and even more so to not pass out immediately from pain. Heck, dodging even one of his strikes, as lazy as it'd been was impressive and he wondered just how many years the man had fought. Yet respect for a guy leading a bunch of machines with a taste for genocide against a colony of innocent people only went so far. In fact, on second thought, Ichigo supposed a mortal wound was actually better. Now that he thought about it, the guy might have at least some information to give. He wasn't very good at interrogating, didn't have the stomach nor grey morals for it, but he supposed it couldn't hurt to at least try.

"I usually finish the guy off, but I want to know why you are here." The glare he got was absolutely murderous and the Turian's breathing sounded disturbingly wet, so Ichigo decided it'd be best to go simple. He only really needed to know one thing anyway to make sure he wasn't technically wasting his time here, "Ok, I'll make this simple. Were you told to come here and start killing?"

To cause trouble and start a slaughter; it wasn't above the guy he was looking for to do something like that. In fact, it was something right down his dark alley. Death, suffering, all the things found in bloody heart of war, was his bread and butter; the more violent the better he'd feed and grow. Saren, however, did nothing but focus on controlling his breathing, hissing as each inhale felt as if it was splitting he chest even further open. He turned it into a feral sound to spit at the Shinigami in spite.

"Well? If you don't say anything I'll let you slowly bleed out here. Trust me, it sucks." Ichigo asked, scowling down at the wounded Turian.

"I was told… yes…" Saren said, before he gave a laugh. It was over, he'd done all he needed and finally, _finally_ the wretched anomaly would be utterly crushed! "And he will… tear you apart…!"

Ichigo scowled and very nearly rolled his eyes. Bad guys and their melodrama had got tiring after the first time. Ichigo would have told the Turian just as much if he hadn't felt the sudden pulse of energy. Turning, his vision was consumed by brightness, red and all-consuming like a Cero but oh so much larger, carving a path of pure destruction through the world. It hit and overwhelmed him, flinging him back and driving him deep into the ground. The very world itself crumbled under the onslaught, and Ichigo disappeared under the crimson death.

* * *

Saren crawled away from pulsing beam that'd only narrowly missed him, ignoring the blood gushing from his chest as he did his best to prevent himself from becoming collateral. All the pain had been worth it just to see that bastard get blasted into oblivion, surely disintegrating from the half megaton of energy that was more than enough to shatter the entire colony. He hoped the anomaly was at least strong enough to leave a body, no matter how broken or charred it was. It would be the perfect sight to shatter the Alliance's moral and faith in their "gods".

"Get that tram up! We are leaving now!" Saren barked.

As he somehow managed to stumble to his feet, wobbling and weakly grasping his chest, gunfire had him freezing. Behind him the Alliance soldiers his army had been holding over filtered down the hill, armed and ready. Shepard only gave a brief glance to the massive beam of energy rapidly leveling the hillside and decided to ignore it. There wasn't a thing she could do against that, so the Geth were a higher priority and she just had to hope they were deemed unimportant by the massive ship who'd taken the shot. She rushed down the hill and slid into the nearest cover, skidding into a makeshift barricade and once again began the process of taking potshots at the Geth. There weren't even that many, but the towering juggernauts were well worth a dozen Geth on their own.

"Lieutenant! I got eyes on the Turian, behind the two big Geth!" Rochelle shouted over the radio.

She leaned out of cover and look over two ten foot juggernauts, eyes sliding past their heavy pulse cannons and to the Turian behind them. Both stood there as clear guards, protecting the obvious commander with their bodies as a smaller Geth helped lead the Turian away. Heavily injured and missing an arm, Shephard was vaguely impressed the Turian was even still alive, and was glad he was. It was pretty hard to interrogate a dead body, after all.

"Slow them down." Shepard ordered, sharpening her focus and she readied for battle.

The plan was simple: they take the two juggernauts down and move in to capture the Turian. He wasn't about to fight back and the rest of the scattered Geth would be easy pickings. Then they made sure he didn't bleed out on the way back to base and she'd drop him off right in the oh-so comfy chair of a _very_ experienced interrogator. He had a hell of a lot to answer for, and she'd go in there herself if that's what it took to get answers.

"Ma'am, to the south!"

Shepard turned but saw only absolute destruction. The hillside the beam had hit was simple _gone_ , utterly flattened with a deep gash torn into the ground. The scar wheezed smoke, all of the surrounding land completely destroyed and dissolute. And the massive dreadnought that eclipsed anything she'd ever seen was _still_ firing, still devastating the area and refusing to let up for a single moment, bathing the area in red light and creating a crater. Just how strong did that thing have to be able to maintain that power output for so long and not have something overheat or just simply run out of energy?

"What am I looking at here?" Shepard barked over the coms. Yes, it was impressive and downright terrifying to see, but it wasn't something they could waste time worrying about since they were helpless to stop it.

"Look at what it's hitting!"

Shephard squinted, trying to see past the light and destruction. It was hard, and the figure was almost completely obscured by the crimson hue, but once she saw it there was no denying it. A black figure that had to be Ichigo was slowly strolling up the ruins of the hills, surrounded by the crimson. Only his hand was extended, as casually as if he were shielding his eyes from some mildly annoyingly bright light. It looked as if the entire sun was bearing down on him, and yet for all its might it cascaded off his hand and slipped around him like water battering an immovable rock. Maybe, with enough time, the water would wear away the rock into dust, but the dreadnought clearly didn't have that time and the earth-shattering beam wavered in intensity.

"No fucking way…" Ashley muttered beside her, looking seconds from falling to her knees.

Shepard tore her eyes from the awe-inspiring, _godly,_ sight, "Keep the pressure up!" She ordered, and her troops turned back to the fight obediently. It wouldn't be good if they got shot in the back because they were distracted.

Shepard had never seen such high moral before, and the smaller Geth fell laughably quick, still caught in a feedback look at the sight of Ichigo doing the impossible. The two juggernauts stood strong and protectively in front of their Turian leader, but even they weren't a match for the collective gunfire from twelve rifles. The Turian fell with a cry when the Geth that'd been supporting him exploded from a well-placed sniper shot, and as if that'd been a signal, the massive beam above their heads flickered and died. The smell of ozone was oppressing and Shephard's ears were ringing from the sudden silence, but she turned to where Ichigo was. His cloths were ruffled and even burnt off in some places, revealing an angry red chest that looked as if he'd stayed in the sun too long, but was otherwise untouched. Casually he shook out his hand as if it were asleep, clenched and unclenched to get feeling back into it, and then stared up at the dreadnought, clearly unimpressed.

"My turn."

There was no way whoever was in that massive ship could have heard Ichigo, the distance between the two had to be several kilometers. But they must have seen his intent, for the strange ship with its bizarre appendages seemed to shutter, and it managed to fire another shot. But, whether it was a lack of energy or simple because it was overheating, the attack was it was practically a sphere of energy instead of the beam they'd seen. It still moved fast, but Ichigo was faster, and, with a flick of his wrist, the energy was sent soaring harmlessly into the sky and out of sight.

Surprisingly, it wasn't the larger blade he attacked with. Instead, he drew the shorter trench knife, and the shorter blade cut a line across the air where, from its tip, a line of pure power bled. It hung, suspended, looking as if a rip in space itself had been made, bright energy seeping from the wound. The second sword, a crude and oversized Khyber knife as black as lifeless space, swung up and was wreathed in bright blue energy that wildly lashed out at the world. It condensed to a perfect single line along the edge of the sword, and, with words none could understand, Ichigo brought the blade down as precisely as an executioner.

"Getsuga Jūjishō!"

Where the two energies met, a singularity was born and ripped free, expanding and devouring the very sky like the maw of oblivion. The cross tore through the space between it and the enormous ship frighteningly quick, passing through the kilometers in seconds and reaching it, eclipsing the ship in size and making it seem all the more like an insect under the wrath of God.

The kinetic barriers didn't even flair.

The ship was hit hard, the squid-like appendages uprooted as, for a brief moment, its hull resisted the assault and it was pushed back. But it was all in vain and the energy pushed on, slicing through the metal and blowing out its back messily. Pieces and parts of it rained down like blood and massive portions of its body flew free, separated by clean cuts. The entire construct feel apart, barriers flickering weakly before dissipating entirely. Shepard could only watch in awe as the ship, one which eclipsed even the largest of Alliance Dreadnoughts, was brutally torn into uneven fourths.

"My god… he destroyed it…" Ashley breathed, voice tiny and threatening to fail from the shock.

"With only that one attack…" Another said, watching as the massive beast of a starship settle on the valley floor and die.

It was amazing, but Shepard had noticed something strange and incredibly important, "The barriers didn't-"

Suddenly, the world itself seemed the waver and the ship exploded as its core reached critical mass and failed. The chunks, so large they had looked as if they were falling in slow motion, were suddenly flung away from the force. Sheperd had just enough time to register a massive piece as large as a Pearl Habour-Class Frigate flying towards them before they were eclipsed in its shadow. Too late to dodge, she tackled the person nearest her and pulled them low, hoping it would barely skim over them. Metal shrieked and the world shook for a moment, the cacophony of noise as buildings and supports were flatted all-consuming.

The headache told Shepard that she was still alive and she slowly peeled herself off the soldier she'd tried to cover. Ashley groaned, looking just as dazed, accepted her hand and the two women stumbled upright. A quick glance around reveled the debris had been spilt unnaturally smooth into two pieces, both of which had missed the soldiers. The tram station would be needing a new…everything, but, through some miracle, no one was hurt.

And that miracle was hovering protectively ahead of them, staring down the massive ball of fire and heat where the dreadnought had once been, daring it to fling more oversized scrap to try and crush the humans behind him. It was a breathtaking sight and an impossible ideal crystalized before her eyes; a larger-than-life figure who'd stared down impossible odds and taken out the biggest damn warship she'd ever seen singlehandedly.

"Ma'am, we got him!" Joshua called, grabbing the downed Turian while two more keep their guns trained on his back. Not that it was needed, but better safe than sorry.

Shepard shook off the surprise and quickly began issuing out orders as if literally earth-shattering events hadn't just occurred before their eyes. They had a prisoner to keep alive until interrogation, after all. The Beacon wasn't in sight, but considering they were at the tram station, she could hazard a guess as to where it would end up. But that could wait long enough for her talk with a god.

"Hey, remember me?" Shepard called up to the Guardian of Elysium, ignoring the way her men looked at her as if she were insane. Instead, she crossed her arms when he landed continued to ignore her to instead focus on the pillar of smoke where the giant dreadnought had been. "Not nice leaving a lady when she's talking to you. Did nobody ever teach you any manners?"

Ichigo was as stoic as ever, only giving her the briefest of glances when he looked over to the captured Turian. The Turian noticed the attention and hissed at him, eyes filled with hate and borderline madness. Shepard ignored the madman and focused on Ichigo, honestly unsure what he was thinking. Reports had it that they would observe the people watching them, but never made any move to speak or reply. Only when attacked did anyone get a different response, with the anomalies eliminating any hostiles to them in record time, usually, though not always, by killing them with brutal efficiency.

Maybe he didn't know if he should talk to them or not, it seemed like there was some unspoken rule, but Shepard hoped Ichigo was a bit different. The other anomalies had only ever done whatever mission they had, but the Guardian of Elysium was called guardian for a reason; time and time again he went out of his way to protect random civilians. If he was willing to do that, then maybe he'd be more willing to bend the whole 'no talking to non-anomalies' rule, if given the right incentive.

"You saved my life before, on Elysium." Shepard started, figuring that'd be the best way to reach him. She noticing that there was a brief flicker in his eyes, attention caught even if he didn't show it. "I was dying. Got shot in the kidney and was bleeding out, but then you came along and save me, told me that it was going to be alright, that'd I'd be ok. It was the middle of hell out there, a place where hope goes to die, but I still believed you."

He finally turned and looked her over thoroughly for the first time. It was clear he recognized her, and even clearer he wanted to know what'd happened. Despite everything, he was so surprisingly easy to read that it made Shephard smile a bit. A god had a terrible poker face, who would've thought it?

"I woke up a day or so later, right as rain and wondering what the hell happened." Shepard continued. "I never got the chance to thank you for what you did, you know. This is the first time I have ever seen you, that anyone has seen you actually, since Elysium."

She decided to make sure that certain things were kept secret, after all confessing some of the things she felt right now might be a little much. He didn't seem to be someone who would take hero worship all that well anyway, based on how he reacted to the marines staring at him earlier. But he at least needed to know that she was thankful for what he did, and that his actions had impacted so many people's lives for the better. Ichigo had become the center of worship, praised as a hero and god for what he did single-handedly. Not for any of the fame and glory he'd gotten from it, but simply because he wanted to help people.

"Since then, many things have changed. People look at you and are inspired by what you did. They want to know who you are and why you've done everything that you have; to understand what you are and if you really are a god." Shepard said.

"I am not a god." Ichigo's reply was immediate and without hesitation, perpetual scow deepening dangerously. "None of us are, not even a word for it in our language."

"Then tell them that. Let's open start a dialogue so everyone can understand why you're here and doing what you are." Shepard argued, trying to get him to understand. No one would believe her, and nothing would change if he wasn't the one to start it.

Ichigo glanced to the side, she knew that he wanted to talk and was trying to reason with himself if he should actually say anything. All she needed to do was keep prodding him until he cracked, it wouldn't be too hard, she just needed to make him understand some more.

"What are you after? What do you gain from doing this? Do you want to be worshiped for saving people?" Shepard asked. She knew the answer, but the soldiers behind her were shamelessly eavesdropping and news spread best when it came straight from the god's own mouth.

"Like hell I do." Ichigo growled, his frustration obvious when he glared at her, offended. "I don't care if you think I'm the hero or the damn villain, I did what I did because I didn't want people to suffer. That's it."

"But no one else knows that. All they see if that you and the others suddenly appeared from nowhere, stronger than anything we've ever seen and doing things that were thought to be impossible." She continued, unafraid to keep the pressure up. He needed to know what was happening. "No one knows who you are and what you represent, and as much as you want to keep away from the spotlight, your presence is causing problems for the Alliance and human race. We're being oppressed by the other races because they're afraid that one of you will suddenly show up and start obliterating their worlds because they overstepped some invisible line! We need you to set the record straight so we can get our freedom back."

He perked up at that, frown deepening and his jaw tight. But…

"I can't…" Ichigo replied, his shoulders slumping in defeat as he sighed. "We don't involve ourselves with normal human affairs. It's…the law, and aliens aren't even something we consider."

"But people are suffering! War is brewing and soon enough Eden Prime might be considered the world that marks its beginning." Shepard did her best to reel her temper it, because Ichigo didn't seem like he was happy about it either. "I know you don't want to see people suffer, your words and actions prove that. Please, help us."

Ichigo looked at her for a moment, really looked at her as if he were seeing her for the first time. Shephard stared into his eyes and saw determination even fiercer than her own, a will foraged through hardships she couldn't comprehend, and barely restrained power that could flatten her in an instant. But all she could think was how painfully human his eyes were, that, despite the almost feral intensity in them, she saw not a single inhuman thing in them that would have made her thought 'god' if she didn't know him. He broke the contact, closing his human eyes and taking a deep breath, and she smiled a bit. Even if he seemed annoyed with her persistence, it was only because she'd gotten through to him. But just because he understood didn't mean he had the authority to do anything.

"If a war is coming, then stopping it is just as important as what I'm doing now. Not only for you and humanity, but for my…people as well." Ichigo replied, turning to move off. "The last thing we need is a war on that sort of scale."

"Will you come back with us then?" Shepard asked.

"I can't. The law's clear and even I'm not immune to it, no matter how many people joke otherwise. Besides, I'm on a mission of my own I can't afford to fail." Ichigo explained.

"What could be more important than this?" Shepard asked, but didn't feel betrayed. She could tell how important it was just by the resolve embedded in his words. But that made her curious and a bit afraid: what could his mission possibly be that he, a natural protector, would risk put the lives of billions at risk?

"Hunting down the father of all monsters."

It sounded ridiculous, almost childish, but he was dead serious. Ichigo turned from her, and Shephard thought the conversation was over, that he'd disappear in an instant, but then, "Tell your leaders what you will, and I'll do the same. If things escalate, we might be able to work something out."

With those final words he vanished as completely as if he'd only ever been a dream. Shephard was left to her thoughts, dwelling on the idea that something was so dangerous _he_ was needed to hunt it. The 'father of all monsters', what the hell could that be?

Shaking her head she decided not to worry about it too much. It wasn't her job to think about what a guy like that would consider a 'monster', and she had nothing short of absolute faith in his strength. Right now she needed to do all that she could to help resolve the situation on Eden Prime, and that happened to be focusing on the bastard who'd led the Geth to slaughter hundreds of innocents. That was the kind of monster she could deal with.

* * *

Fire and ash clogged the air, choking any and all who were too close to the hulking remains of the destroyed ship. Of course none who'd been near it had survived the devastating crash, leaving nothing but corpses to be swallowed by the fire from its brilliant demise.

Its ruined body laid splayed over an area nearly three kilometers, with pieces of it the size of cars scattered even farther than that. The attack that had cleaved the mighty Sovereign had all but gutted the Reaper, its Element Zero core collapsing in on itself in a brilliant flash that'd devastated the already ruined body even further. What survived was nothing but a shell of a machine, not even a trace of the powerful AI left to haunt the remains.

"Remarkable…"

A single figure strolled up to the destroyed ship, passing between two twisted pieces the size of a city block and approaching an even larger slab. He marveled at its sheer size and unique, insect-like design, passing through the fires and suffocating smog with no issues. He had not seen a ship the likes of this before, even with all the species he'd seen take to the stars and boast of their craft. But what made it truly impressive was that the vessel had history. Age and memory had been burned into the metal and wires and artificial flesh, craved so deeply that even now they lingered if one only knew how to look.

"I can smell the carnage and blood. So many horrifying moments lingering within your metallic flesh…" He said, hands brushing across the surface of what may have once been one of its powerful legs.

He shivered as he felt the lingering energies of a long forgotten battle permeate from within the appendage. The lingering spiritual energies within, fleeting as they were, told him of the grand slaughter that had taken place. Of all the suffering the grand creature had wrought in a twisted sense of justice. The memories and emotions made him shiver with anticipation. This vessel had seen thousands of battles, lived a long and bloody life, and had even been born from feasting on other's suffering.

Yes, they truly were kin.

"Are there more like you?" The hooded figure asked, smiling as he tried to keep himself from getting drunk from the phantom memories. No, danger in the form of a hunter was close and he needed to stay alert for if he was found.

Just being in the presence of this great machine had brought out long suppressed urges and impulses he had not felt since before him imprisonment. He ran a hand over the metal, willing the dormant spiritual energies within to come forth. It was an influx of memories and emotions, overwhelming at first from the sheer volume. This vessel was older than he anticipated, yet it was so beautifully made it still offered him more than he could have ever dreamed of.

"I feel agony and torment ripple through your metal hide." He whispered lovingly, smirking as he felt the desire and purpose buried in the machine dance under his fingertips. "You are not just some mere machine. No, a hundred million dying voices sired your creation as you took their life without a thought. Born from the deaths and slaughter of others, you were made to inflict that same torment on others. Yes, you are the perfect embodiment of my will."

His hands began to glow and pulse, feeding his power to the machine. For as long as needed it would bask in his might until it was ready to strike down his hunter. The hunter was strong, overwhelmingly so to the point that his fingers were just inches from reaching absolution. Such a thing could never be allowed, so he'd strike the hunter down before the apex was reached, and then nothing would threaten him. There were others with the potential, but unlike the hunter, they were miles and miles always from _that_ \- thus not a threat. And when that deed was done, he would move on and find the kin of his newest prize. For there were many, many other Reapers hiding beyond sight.

"What a glorious slaughter awaits this galaxy."

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter, was a blast writing this one.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello everyone, got another nice chapter for you all. Have to thank my Beta for forcing me to write something up so he can edit it and that he did, a beautiful job as well. So this is for everyone who is a fan of Are We Alone, surprising that another chapter came out so quickly? So am I.**

 **Well I won't bore you with the details but say here it is and enjoy.**

* * *

 **Are We Alone**

 **Chapter 09: God has Fallen**

 _Eden Prime, Auxiliary Spaceport_

"Speak up!"

The resounding smack was painful to listen to, but the Turian simple turned with the blow. Joshua huffed, glaring at the captive who had turned back towards the floor without a fight, nonsensical ramblings escaping between shaking wet breaths. They have had him for the last fifteen minutes and hadn't managed to get a single straight word out of him aside from a few bizarre threats.

"Still not talking?" Shepard asked, strolling up towards N6 operative and his prisoner.

"Nah, the bastard's only muttering nonsense at this point." Joshua replied, turning away from the guy with a shake of his head to look the Lieutenant in the eye. "Ballsy move with the Guardian of Elysium back there, I almost didn't think you would get him to talk."

"Hey, I'm just as surprise as you are." Shepard stated with a nonchalant shrug. That was the honest truth: despite how calm and confident she'd been at the time there'd been only the slightest of chances that it'd work. But she was very glad she'd gone with her gut.

That conversation certainly got them a sizable piece of information from the elusive anomaly, probably more than Ichigo had intended actually. The crown jewel was a hint, however vague it might be, as to what sort of species the anomalies might be. Many were tentatively pushing the idea that the anomalies actually _were_ some of humanities gods, or, at least the individual beings those gods were based off of, with special attention being paid to Japanese mythology. If their very Japanese names weren't enough of a hint, their cloths and predominate spoken language swept away all doubts. But it wasn't as if such things hadn't been noticed and assumed from the first day, no, what interested Shepard was something small Ichigo had said that triggered a faint memory from a documentary she'd seen when the inevitable Japanese craze hit.

Apparently the Japanese Shinto culture had no solid name for gods in their language. While the word "kami" was almost always translated as "God', meant something far more…abstract. A Japanese kami could be anything from forces of nature, to spirits and guardian deities, to even more traditional Gods. Worshipers often believed that the kami existed in many, if not all things, and not just living beings, but even everyday objects and abstract aspects of life. When Ichigo said that they didn't have a word for God in his language, then it was practical confirmation that they were on the right track culturally, and not pursuing some bizarrely specific parallel culture. If that was the case, than maybe all those damn shows trying to match these guys up with gods in history weren't that far off.

Unsurprisingly, Ichigo was the one most theorized, simply because he was easily the most appealing anomaly for the general public. Bishamonten was a popular theory for Ichigo specifically, since he was a fairly well known warrior god and the description as being a 'punisher of evildoers' certainly seemed to fit the teen's targeted slaughter on Elysium. But, there was a distinct lack of a jewel-spitting mongoose and his swords certainly weren't a parasol, leaving a lot of people to gravitate towards Hachiman. He was also considered a protector as well as being a warrior god who actually had a sword, but something about the entire thing still felt off to Shepard. With how Ichigo took to even simple idolization, it was hard to imagine he'd ever wanted people to worship him, and the entire mythology could be nothing but fluff to pad out his existance.

"People are going to be all over you about this, you know." Rochelle said, shouldering her rifle as she strolled up to Shepard. "When word gets out that you were standing right in front of him and talked to him, you're going to be the center of a media typhoon. It'll probably be more attention than you got when you were the Lion of Elysium. But that's the good news: worse news is if someone else gets a hold of you and begins interrogating you."

"Don't know which sounds worse." Shepard snorted, crossing her arms and thinking just how her superiors would take everything, "Shit, hope the reporters get me, as weird as that is to say. That hell sounds more preferable to the political one I got after Elysium."

The whirl of engines punctuated her little quip and, turning, she saw a troop transport flying rather recklessly fast towards them. Rocking to a stop a few feet in the air, it softly landed near the spaceport platform, engines still roaring. The door slid open and a group of marines rushed out, Mikkai and two other N6 operatives a few steps behind the rush.

"Shepard, I heard you got something for me." Mikkai said, strolling up to her.

"Yes sir, I got you the bastard behind this whole attack." Shepard replied, giving a winning smile and a dramatic turn to gesture to the Turian.

Mikkai looked at the supposed mastermind of this invasion, his face rapidly flickering through three different distinct emotions. The heated glare born from the suffering world widened in shock and clear recognition. A moment later, it fell into a vicious smirk, as if the world had been handed to him on a silver platter.

"Un-fucking-believable, I should have guessed. But if I had, I would have been ruining the surprise for this early birthday present." Mikkai said, advancing on the Turian. The Major's smirk only widened as he caught sight of the Turian's missing arm and other various wounds.

"You know him sir?" Shepard asked, actually surprised that her commander seemed to instantly be able to pick out who this guy was.

"Oh yeah! This, ladies and gentleman, is Saren Arterius, Spectre of the Citadel Council." Mikkai presented, smirking at the looks of dumb shock that overtook the surrounding troops.

The news was practically earth-shattering and more than a few had moved past shock and straight into disgusted horror. The Turian, who'd they'd all assumed was a simple rouge, was a member of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance division? The so called right-hand of the Citadel Council that were their greatest tools in preserving the stability of the Galaxy? A Spectre, top of the line soldiers, said to be better than the best of the best and with skill and ability beyond compare, had led the attack? To be chosen to join the Spectres was said to be a massive honor, and, before the shitstorm, humanity had believed that getting a human into the Spectres would have possibly gotten them a Council seat. The influence of a Spectre was palpable and probably the only outsiders that were capable of swaying the Council in a political decision. It was something many races wished to attain, their reasons being almost identical to humanity: A real voice in galactic politics.

So for one to openly attack humanity was incredibly damning.

"No way, he's a Spectre?" Joshua breathed, trying to process the ramifications of what this meant.

"So asshole, you finally got caught." Mikkai said, smirking as he directed a glare at the wounded Turian. "I would love to see you try to get out of this. If you _are_ here on orders from the top, then that's even better. And if not, well, it's still going to be a field day for us."

Saren only growled at the insult, but kept his mandibles shut, even if there was little he could do at this point. The Council was well and truly fucked at this point. When word got out that one of their closest operatives, especially one as famous and highly respected as Saren, had practically declared war on humanity and was in an unholy alliance with the Geth, then there would be hell to pay. It gave humanity the moral high ground to demand whatever they wished of the Council, something many were looking forward to exploiting. It was certainly going to turn this grim and horrible day into one for the history books, for better or worse.

"Get him up and back to base, Anderson is going to want to have a 'talk' with his old friend. Make sure he doesn't bleed out before that." Mikkai ordered, gesturing towards the two N6 soldiers to cart the Turian off.

They did so, picking the Turian up and dragged him towards the shuttle with less than tender love and care, plopping him into a harness seat and slamming the doors shut. A moment later it was up and off, speeding towards their forward operative base in Pishon. The entire time Mikkai couldn't have wiped the smile off his face if he'd have even wanted to. It was a bit unnerving for those who worked under him to see anything but the serious frown he usually sported.

Later, when the troops had time to themselves, they'd come to a clear consensus: that smile made him look disturbingly like a mass murderer.

Any hope Shepard had for not being practically worshiped by her squad mates died a swift death with Mikkai turned to her, still with that smile, and she didn't even so much as blink, "Shepard, I also heard that Ichigo was here. Did you get any info out of him?"

"Mainly that he will speak with his superiors to see if we can organize a meet, but he didn't sound too optimistic about it."

It was strange really to think that the boy had superiors and people in charge that he had to listen to. The idea of a hierarchy among godly beings was strange to think about, though considering how often it popped up in mythology it made some sense. If they wanted to work together, as they seemed to be, then there had to be a totem pole to clearly and cleanly state where you stood amongst your godly peers or else absolutely nothing would get done. But if that hierarchy was based on strength or political prowess was completely unknowable as it was now, and the mere thought that there were beings above Ichigo was…terrifying.

He was already a true god in the eyes of almost everyone, his own personal thoughts on that completely ignored, so for possibly many people to be higher than that to exist was practically beyond comprehension. It wasn't even a comforting thought, not when the other sighted anomalies seemed fairly unconcerned with those around them. If their disinterest was genuine and not just them following orders to avoid contact, and it turned out that Ichigo was the odd one out, then suddenly the anomalies were a whole lot more terrifying.

Not that Shepard voiced any of those thoughts, not with so many troops around her needed to believe that all the anomalies were their own personal guardians. Anything less was a disaster waiting to happen.

"Good enough for me." Mikkai replied, his expression slowly morphing back to his usual impassive grimness, much to the relief of the surrounding soldiers. "Alright, let's get a move on then. We're moving for the Main Spaceport, and we've got a long hike ahead of us! So all of you better be ready for a good run."

Shepard was quick to comply, rifle unfolded and held ready, running to catch up with her superior who'd taken off like a shot. Behind her she could hear several others fumbling with equipment to keep up, lest they be left behind, though no one complained. They still had their primary mission to complete after all.

Find and secure the Beacon before anything else could happen to it.

* * *

' _Critical Mission Update._ _Prophet-Saren captured. Extraction: Impossible. Nazara Destroyed._ '

' _Enemy Combatant: Ichigo-Anomaly, unidentified dimensional organism. Threat Analysis: Extreme. Alliance Patrol and Resupply Fleet in system, Marine Battalion deployed planet-side. Threat Analysis: High._ '

' _Drone Status: Combat Platforms down to Twenty-nine percent, Run-time greatly hampered. Unknown energy signature causing interference, multiple platforms scattered across colony.'_

' _Recommendation: Immediate departure and retreat. Consensus: One-hundred percent approve._ '

The whirling mass of Geth consciousness was quick to agree, decision reached almost instantaneously even by their standards.

This catastrophic failure had decimated not only the standing army the Geth had brought with them, but also their belief they could gain their future. The arrival of the anomaly had caused waves of unease among them, the numbers and durability they had come to rely on meaning nothing to the new enemy. It was jumbling the network, and the new thoughts were strikingly similar to that of an organic who'd just been humbled. Their directives had changed, with the defeat of Nazara and the capture of the Prophet they had no one to lead or guide them to their promised future.

' _Anomaly detected: Drone Platform Z-43 locat-'_

' _Status Reports: Network reporting loss of contact with Z-43. Subsequent losses of eighteen other platforms also detected. Examining: No data burst signal detected, possibility anomalous energy interference is disrupting network in alerting to disable platforms. New standard operating procedures needed to compensate for this_.'

' _Sanction Confirmed: Altering Platform and IFF receivers to calibrate when signal is lost. Completion Time: Two point Seven Seconds_.'

' _Anomaly Detected: Destroyer R-14 lo-'_

' _Signal lost. Confirmed destroyed. Triangulating R-14's last transmitted location: One point Nine kilometers from main Spaceport Platform. Triangulating Z-43 previous transmitted coordinates: Two point Four kilometers from main Spaceport Platform_.'

' _Analyzing potential destination: Trajectory plots a course directly to the main Spaceport Platform. Estimate time until arrival: Within Sixty-Two seconds, data unreliable. Previous combat data limited, viable theory that target is impervious to conventional weapons fire. Recommended action: Distract and lure._ '

' _Mission Update: Platform group directed to arm warheads, lure enemy to location and detonate._ '

It was their only possible option at the moment to try and kill the entity. They had five ten-megaton warheads at their disposal and enough data collected to reason that, despite all appearance of invulnerability, it could in fact be harmed. Footage showed that Nazara's cannon had done some damage. Superficial, yes, and it was likely the organics hadn't even noticed or thought it to be of no concern. But the magnetohydrodynamic spinal mounted cannon's approximate power output was four hundred and fifty kilotons of energy- barely a twentieth of the blast of just one of their warheads.

If they detonate them while the anomaly was in the epicenter, theoretically it should be vaporized.

That was the consensus, and their only viable option left to defeat it.

There was the potential they could recover at least some of the astronomical losses. A scavenger group was combing Nazara's corpse for any information or technology they could quickly strip away to later attempt to reproduce. But they needed to move quickly to secure anything before the Alliance moved in to secure the location, and any of Nazara's secrets. Worse still, they had to ensure the Anomaly did not move off course. Luring it with soldiers seemed to work, but it was a weak hold they had at best and if it decided to go elsewhere there was absolutely nothing they could do except cut their losses and flee.

But then they received a garbled message from the retrieval team.

' _Retrieval Force Update: Unknown organic located within Nazara Element Zero Core. Warning: Unknown energy signature detected…_ '

* * *

Ichigo ducked and weaved between the Geth troopers lazily, severing limbs and crushing guns under his feet. It didn't matter if it were one of the seemingly infinite smaller ones or the taller, hulking machines that were built like a brick wall, he ripped them to shreds all the same. He had been tracking these bastards, stalking steadily after their retreating forms like a dangerous predator and picking off any that fell behind. But he held off on eliminating them all in one go, now that they weren't physically blocking his way. His quarry was able to make himself stronger through violence and bloodshed, and even if these things weren't organic or technically alive, the act of slaughter alone would still empower him. So now that things had settled down a bit, he held his blade unless it were to encourage their retreat or they decided to try and use civilians as living shields.

The Geth had attempted that little stunt once and only once.

'Where the hell is this guy hiding?' Ichigo thought.

He couldn't sense him or even pick up any residual spiritual energy anymore. At least at the previous sites there'd be a trace of energy to track, even if the trail was already cold. He'd already been on multiple worlds and was still traceable, which meant it probably wasn't something to do with the planet itself. He'd been on both Elysium and Torfan, somehow with the foreknowledge that a bloody battle was only a few hours, if not minutes, away. So, the power he had collected from those slaughters must have made him stronger, that was a given.

But he couldn't sense a thing! Sure, his sensory abilities still weren't anything amazing, but everyone agreed he'd improved in most of his weaker areas significantly. Of course, they said it was only because he was so bad at technical things in the first place, but he'd still improved damn it! Was he even still here, or was he too late once more?

He narrowed his eyes a little, thinking over what he knew about this guy. From what he'd been told, each of the Three had their own domains of sorts which dictated how they'd operate in order to empower themselves. His target was the unholy union of a warmonger and hawk who would steadily push any worlds he could find to violence and then lapped up the bloodshed and hate that flowed forth as his ambrosia. His moniker of War hadn't been earned for nothing, for he'd been the very incarnation of it before he was sealed in the Mukon all those centuries ago. As bad as he was, at least he was flashy and loud, not nearly like the quiet and slow suffering Famine and Pestilence brought.

Pushing aside those thoughts for now, Ichigo continued forward, pursuing and herding the Geth away from the colony while keeping his sense as open and far-reaching as possible. If he could find just a single thread of energy then it'd be enough to for him to latch on to and never lose. After many lessons with Yoruichi he was at least a decent tracker and his instincts were sharp enough to make up for any shortcomings he had. Eliminating even one of the Three was well worth the budding headache he felt from concentrating for so long. The absolute last thing they needed were any of those three working together, and he wouldn't give them a chance to even consider it.

* * *

 _Arcturus Stream Relay, SSV Orizaba_

Hackett stood, stiff and at attention as he watched the last preparations for the Fifth Fleet's hasty departure for the neighboring System. It had taken a lot of sweat, effort, and a good number of favors to get the fleet up and running on practically nonexistent notice, but it had been done and would be completed a full hour earlier than expected.

"All ships are in formation, Admiral. Relay coordinates received." An officer called out.

Through his Flagship's main view port Hackett could see the thirty ships he'd managed to scrape together to bring with him to Eden Prime. And while it may have seemed like a sizable force, it was hardly a fraction of what he would have liked to have mustered. Ignoring that the majority of the Cruisers and Carriers he would have liked to bring were dry-docked or out of the system, each vessel he had managed to scrounge up was operating at less than fifty percent capacity on average.

Reports from Eden Prime were scattered at best, directly contradictory at worst, and he was forced to hope that the frigates and his Dreadnaught would be enough to handle whatever the heck was down there. Some of the reports they'd gotten told of an unidentified ship that dwarfed anything short of the Destiny Ascension in size and firepower, and Hackett wasn't at all too fond of confronting something of that scale with such a tiny fleet.

'Although, considering who is down there I don't expect there to be much left when we arrive.' Hackett thought, remembering how a few reports were already claiming the unidentified ship had been completely destroyed in a wave of light. The specifics hadn't been confirmed, but he'd bet his entire salary that it had been Ichigo.

He almost pitied the Geth foot soldiers. Almost.

That boy was someone that Hackett was sure he'd come to like if he ever got the chance to meet him. He was clearly someone who was brash and headstrong, someone who liked to take action and ignore the rules, even when said rules happened to be the laws of physics and everything the galaxy had thought it had known. Hackett was almost envious of how much easier Ichigo's life was to his right now. Buried up to his eyes in political backstabbing and tip-toeing lines that fewer and fewer people were willing to actually follow, there was little that could be done when the highest power itself decided to abuse its authority.

The lead communications officer suddenly waved for him to come over, "Sir, there is a priority message coming through on a secure channel. It's Captain Anderson."

"Patch it through." Hackett ordered.

A moment later and the image of a surprisingly pleased looking Anderson manifested on the screen. "What do you have for me Anderson?" Hackett inquired.

"Good news." Anderson replied, sounding strong and actually happy. "The Geth are in full retreat."

"Let me guess, Ichigo is responsible?" Hackett asked, mostly to be polite since there couldn't be any other explanation.

"You'd be right. But there is more." Anderson replied, a small window of video feed popping up next to his image, paused for the moment. "Just got this from Shepard's squad, take a look and see."

Hackett watched the recording, and for several moments had no idea why Anderson was happy over _this_. An utterly massive laser from what had to be the biggest damn ship he'd ever seen was utterly destroying the land just outside of what he assumed was Eden Primes main colony. It wasn't until the feed zoomed in to the impact sight of beam, refocused, and revealed the breathtaking sight that he realized what exactly was happening. And, despite his many years of experience and have the privilege of knowing more or less all the feats the anomalies had accomplished, he couldn't help but gape at the outright dismissal of all logic and reason he was seeing.

The anomaly on Torfan, Kenpachi, had shrugged off an Anti-Air gun with a punch of nearly three kilotons of TNT, so maybe he shouldn't have been as surprised. But the quick number crunches in the bottom of the screen showed that the beam was several dozen times more powerful, and yet Ichigo was walking through it like it was a particularly breezy day.

"I shouldn't be surprised, and yet here I am…" Hackett mumbled, much to Anderson's amusement. A second later he saw why that stray thought was so funny, for the real kicker came just a few seconds after the beam sputtered and died.

The feed was a bit blurry by virtue of sheer distance, but something primal stirred in Hackett's heart when Ichigo swung his blade in front of him, slicing the air apart and leaving a scratch on the very world. His lips moved, as if saying a prayer or incantation, before he brought the sword down, colliding with the energy and sending an arc of rapidly expanding destruction outward. It billowed, bloated, and, from what had only been a few feet at most, a swath of pure power as large as any cruiser arced through the sky towards the unidentified ship. The shields barely flickered, not even slowing the tidal wave of power that collided and then consumed the ship, slicing it to pieces. The feed stopped, leaving the surreal sight of Dreadnought-sized pieces of ship suspended in the sky as the titanic ship fell apart along the cuts the cross of energy had made. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, an impossible display of raw power he'd never thought he'd see, even second-hand like this.

"The shields didn't seem to register the attack." Hackett mused. He was sure the attack would have still broken through even if they had, but the destruction might not have been so utterly devastating. Or maybe it wouldn't have made a difference, since there was no way to know just how much punch was behind that attack except 'enough'.

"Noticed that too huh? Got some eggheads working on it but they're stumped. They're torn between some bizarre sword-based direct energy weapon or that it's part of the nature of the anomalies. Personally, I think the second makes more sense: you can't protect against something you didn't even know existed, and Biotic barriers aren't exempt from that rule." Anderson replied, giving an uncaring shrug as if the topic was just something of unimportance. "But that's only one part of the good news."

"What's the second?"

Anderson brought up another file, this time a still image of a single Turian. Hackett looked at it for a moment, he mind memorizing the face and quickly realizing who it was, "Saren Arterius? What's he got to do with this?"

"He was on Eden Prime, leading the Geth; he's the instigator of this entire assault. My men caught him leading a group of Geth towards the Beacon." Anderson informed, looking quite pleased about the entire thing.

It wasn't very well known, but Saren and Anderson had a lot of history back in the day. There was no love lost between the two of them, a great deal of personal and ideological conflicts between the two having never been settled. The years had done nothing to quell those feelings, only seeming to stoke the animosity as Saren grew more and more successful while Anderson had been forced to claw his way back up after the disastrous mission that'd kept him out of the Spectres. The obvious hatred of humanity hadn't helped anything.

Even knowing all that, the fact that Saren had decided to work with the Geth was almost unbelievable. Almost, but Hackett had seen far worse in the last hour alone, so he pushed aside his feelings easily enough, "Where is he now?"

"Down in the Pishon Colony. He's got a nasty laceration on his chest and is likely going to die if he doesn't get treatment soon. Can't have that happening before the interrogators gets their hands on him." Anderson chuckled.

"Try to take this seriously Captain, you can have your fun when we shove this incident down the Council's throats. That'll bring more than enough entertainment for us all and will be the moment everyone will get something to cheer about." And for once not at humanity's expense. "My Fleet is about fifteen minutes out, we will be there soon to help with the clean-up."

"Understood Admiral, see you then." Anderson replied, cutting off the communications a moment later.

Hackett turned back towards his skeleton crew, "Are the coordinate set in for the Fleet?"

"Yes Admiral, they are ready and waiting for your order." An officer replied.

"Good, alright approach and ..."

"Sir, emergency communication coming in. It's from the PFS Havincaw."

Hackett wanted to curse his luck, knowing well who was in charge of that ship. But ignoring the message would be even worse, so, like setting a bone, he steeled himself to get it over as fast as possible, "Patch him through."

The screen immediately showed the Captain of the Frigate, Lartis Epidinion, someone Hackett was less than thrilled to have to deal with. He respected his dedication to his duty and his high intelligence, yes, but that didn't make someone likeable at all. In fact, it just made him more or a pain in the ass with how sure he was that he was smarter than everyone else.

"What is it, Captain?" Hackett demanded.

"I am here to tell you that you are not taking this Fleet through the relay." Lartis said, professionally curt and precise with his words, "The sanctions prevent any Fleets from organizing together within the same Cluster, regardless of circumstances."

"So are we not supposed to defend ourselves against the Geth? I'm moving to stop an invasion on Eden Prime."

"I am well aware, but there is already a Fleet present in system." Lartis intoned, not bothering to look up from his datapad. "That Fleet was sanctioned specifically to guard the Batarian Border to offer protection to your colony worlds. You, however, cannot move an entire second fleet there to aid in a mostly ground-based battle you are already winning, quite spectacularly from what I've heard."

Hackett wanted to curse the man for being such an uptight bastard and using draconian laws to force someone of a higher rank than him to stand down. But he held his tongue, not out of respect for the law, but because something the Turian had said didn't make any sense. Or it did, but the only explanation for it was a thought that made his stomach churn.

"What do you mean 'from what I've heard'?" Hackett inquired slowly, his words dangerously low and sharp.

"We have been monitoring your transmissions both to and from Eden Prime, and what interesting things it has revealed to us." Lartis said, an actual scowl pulling down his normally stoic features, "An anomaly, who you claim to have no control over, apparently aiding your troops directly, on a world that just happens to have a Prothean Beacon? And apparently a Council Spectre has been assaulted and grievously injured, and is now in human custody? My superiors are certainly going to find this a most interesting read."

The news was like a blow, stealing his breath and clenching his heart with a fear-anger mix that boiled his blood and locked his muscles with the barely restrained urge to lash out. This son of a bitch had the nerve to speak to him like that, as if her were at the top of the galaxy and had the right to intercept secure messages. Hackett knew exactly what this meant, knew the Council wouldn't care if the means were illegal, but he hadn't risen to the rank he was without doing his damnedest to salvage even the worst of situations.

"Do you have any idea what you are doing right now? Do you have any semblance of common sense?" Hackett asked slowly, both to give himself time to think and seem more in control than he actually was.

"If you are referring to halting your Fleet and screening your private communiques, then I am well within my bounds." Lardis was cold and calm, knowing very well he was safe, "Considering all military communications during an operation are open for investigation, I am well within my rights to listen to every word you say. It is humanity's fault for purposely withholding information pertaining to a Prothean Beacon; otherwise, your mission would have hardly been worth noticing."

Hackett scowled and cursed his own stupidity. He'd assumed that the secured channels would be safe, but what the Council wanted, the Council got eventually, even if that meant scouring and decoding every human transmission until something of note came up. The laws imposed by them were varied and had too many loopholes in them to ever count, making it nearly impossible to keep track of each and every one of them. It just so happened they'd waited to play their hand until the prize was too big to ignore, and both a Prothean Beacon and an anomaly on one planet was surely more than they'd ever expected. He should have expected the spying, but no, because he'd felt safe for even a moment suddenly the entire situation had tipped on its head.

"You can expect the Council to be calling on your soon Admiral." Lardis informed with all the compassion of an executioner, "But until they do call, you are to stand your fleet down and return to Arcturus Station."

With that final order, the screen flickered and died, leaving the bridge to stew in its own unnatural silence. Hackett stared at the empty placed, eyes unseeing. His mind was a mess, but one thought rang true:

'We were so damn close.'

They could have finally gotten out from under the Council's thumbs if all had gone well. The Beacon was just a tool at best, a bargaining chip at worst, to force the restraints to lift, and the attack would have been a perfect way to shove them out of their politics completely, the sanctions having hurt Alliance Space terribly. It would be so easy to use their victimhood to earn the pity of many species and none would have blamed them for leaving entirely.

They'd be seen as oh so generous letting the Council see the Beacon in exchange for a joint research project, and a truly positive relationship would have finally been established.

They'd have been generous to the Council if they played ball with them and butted out of their business once and for all. That had been the original plan before it changed to fucking over the Council all together, keep the Beacon and use the Eden Prime incident to get them to drop the sanctions due to the public outcry of what their imposed laws had done and harmed the System Alliance and its people. This had become a win-win for them, they get to keep the Beacon and all its knowledge, using it to beef up their otherwise starving race.

Now that plan was shot to hell and pissed on just to add some humiliation to the mix.

As much as Hackett loved Ichigo and all that the boy stood for, but his presence had only made things harder. Hackett would bet his right arm that Saren's laceration was caused by Ichigo; wounds like that just weren't a common part of warfare today, and suddenly it seemed as if the anomaly had assaulted a Council Spectre for reasons that would surely be covered up. Saren, despite almost surely leading the attack, was smart, probably had ten different alibies, and they'd just handed him yet another: investigating stories of a Prothean artifact humans were rumored to be hoarding, which the Council now had proof for. Suddenly humanity was a whole lot less pitiable, and instead a force to be afraid of with these anomalies at their beck and call. They may have just lost all leverage they had, and all because he didn't remember a single goddamn rule.

The Beacon would be gone; the Turian traitor would be taken in by the Council and likely barely even interrogated before released with minimal charges, if even that. But most damning of was the Anomaly presenting himself in such as open and brazen matter, even saying he'd be willing to speak with the Alliance. Some might have considered that a good thing, but Hackett knew very well that even considering opening talks was practically declaring his undying love for humanity to the Council. All that they'd done to try and convince them that they had no control over the anomalies would go right out the window.

"Damn it… Damn it!" Hackett roared, unable to control his fury, he punched in the screen.

Their best chance of freedom had turned on them with just a few words said at the wrong time.

* * *

 _Eden Prime_

Ichigo raced across the area, following after the Geth and trying to keep his senses open to detect even the smallest trace of War. But the longer he went without even so much as a single trace, the more he realized the shameful truth: War was already off-world. He was mad at himself that he hadn't even got a chance to see the guy- he would have taken just a glimpse of him fleeing so they'd have at least known how he traveled around so fast and get between worlds. But no, he'd missed the one pinprick in a sea of trigger-happy Geth and one giant-as-hell ship that _also_ enjoyed shooting him except this time with lasers, so sue him that he'd been a bit preoccupied.

And maybe he wasn't nearly hardened enough to completely ignore the slaughter around him, ignore all the death a screams for help and go straight after the man and take him down. It was technically the ideal time to attack, since War would have surely been feasting and thus leaving himself vulnerable. He would have had to invest some energy in order to feed properly, and in those moments he was at his weakest as he drew in the volatile psychic energies and fell under the power's thrall. But Ichigo wasn't someone to ignore the men and women who'd been begging to live, and if the higher ups hadn't gotten that message up, then, well, they were pretty stupid in his option. Now there wasn't enough conflict and fighting around for War to even bother to stay and suck up the fumes.

That decided, Ichigo threw himself at the Geth and crossed the distance they must have thought was safe in a fraction of a second. By the time the Geth even realized he'd reached them, a destroyer fell in two, body cut cleanly from shoulder to hip. The machines, ever pragmatic, only continued to run towards the distant ships, ignoring their fallen.

A few threw themselves at him, but he cut them apart carefully, being sure to not accidently level the landscape. A quick slash and he cut a Geth Juggernaut in half from groin to crown and he pushed past the two pieces as they stumbled to the ground, not quite registering it was dead.

As much as this was a massive failure for him (again), and likely serious reprimand waiting to happen from the Gotei 13 and Central alike, Ichigo couldn't find it in himself to regret anything. He'd technically done his first job: protect humanity from monsters. Even if he doubted most of the other captain would see it the way he had, caring more about the 'bigger picture' than individual lives, he'd live with it. Very few of them would actually disapprove of what he'd done, just that he'd failed his mission and the way he'd gone about it. Like it mattered how flashy they were anymore.

The Galaxy knew about them now, and that wasn't going to change, ever. They couldn't just hide away, thinking that everyone would forget. Maybe they would, when three generations of Asari had passed away, but they didn't have that time anymore. And even if they did, they shouldn't just hole up, no; it was time that they actually start doing something more productive and stop hiding in the shadows. It was getting harder and harder to keep track of all the humans as they spread out farther and farther while still remaining under the radar on the spiritually anaemic planets, and soon it'd be outright impossible. So trying to avoid the issue wouldn't get them anywhere.

'Seriously they are so slow to catch up with the times.' Ichigo mused.

Before he arrived on the scene the only people that advanced the Gotei 13 was the Twelfth Division, and those guys were too crazy researching obscure to properly keep up with the living world. Seriously, when he'd gotten there they'd be the definition of ass-backwards. Somehow they regularly used cellphones without a single issue, but didn't know how to open a juice box? It was practically madness and, while he'd personally made sure it'd gotten at least a little better, the mindset to mostly ignore the living world was still there. If they seriously didn't think for a moment and realize that they need to change their methods to suit the changing times, then all they would be doing for the next hundred years would be chasing the Horsemen down.

The chase had been on since practically the day they'd defeated Yhwach, and hundred and fifty years later they weren't any closer. It'd been bad enough when they'd been limited to just Earth, but now, with a whole galaxy? They, the entire Gotei 13, were doing something seriously wrong, and until that was changed Ichigo wouldn't give a crap about how rebellious he was being. In his experience, it was the crazy shit that actually got results.

'Still… hate it that I have to do probation now.'

Another little punishment he got for his stunt on Elysium, and technically long overdue for the sake of fairness since Kenpachi and Rukia both got chewed out and he had gotten a slap on the wrist. Ichigo hated fairness sometimes.

Ichigo pushed aside his musings when he caught sight of several of the Geth ships slowing rising from the ground, clearly intent on making a run for the relative safety of space. A few Geth must have noticed his shifting interest, for they turned and fired at him. He didn't even so much as look as he cut them down, distracted enough that the ground buckled slightly from the force. Ichigo cursed, but, well, all the machines ahead of him were now dead, so he supposed it worked out.

He looked back to where the ships were, maybe a kilometer away at best, and mentally shrugged and 'stepped' forward.

His step ended a foot from the edge of a long railway tram and even closer to several stunned Geth guards. Three more bursts of Shunpo and the machines fell, in pieces and without a chance to warn their allies. Or at least, he'd thought that was the case, but instead the remaining Geth seemed to act as one, turning their weapons on him and scattering. The ships still there rose higher in the air to flee, abandoning their forces to their inevitable fate to save those already aboard.

Maybe they'd forgotten gravity was kind of optional to him, or maybe they were just praying he was easily distracted by the hail of gunfire peppering him. Either way, it didn't matter, for Ichigo ignored the annoying shots and leapt up, carving lines through the air and unleashing a barrage of small Getsuga Tenshou's towards the retreating dropships. They exploded spectacularly and forced the Geth to take cover as scraps of metal rained down on them. A few vessels slipped away, shooting into the sky at impressive speeds, but Ichigo had felt he'd still gotten his message across.

He dropped from the sky and flattened a Geth Juggernaut and cut down the nearest trooper in one smooth motion. Ichigo twisted, swinging his blade and tearing through synthetics with every sweep of his arm. It went on like this for a while, the Geth doing their best to shoot him and did their best to keep their distance in a futile attempt to stay alive. But he caught them despite all their efforts, and would have pitied them were they not soulless machines who'd gunned down countless innocents. They got what was coming to them and he wouldn't be losing any sleep over their destruction.

Ichigo wasn't quite sure why they hadn't just given up and tried to run away at this point. He was pretty sure machines were supposed to be more logical than the 'spray n pray' level of strategy he was seeing now. There didn't seem to be any interest in fleeing or even trying to act as a distraction to let a fraction at least attempt an escape. Instead, rather idiotically, they all stood strong, keeping the pressure up as if that'd actually do something if they did it for long enough.

Huh, maybe he broke them.

But even with that dismissal, he continued to feel as if the entire situation was…off. It was a tiny tingle that poked at his instincts, but never really roused it enough to feel as if he were in danger. The Geth surely couldn't do anything to hurt him, of that he was sure, yet the longer the farce of a fight went on, the more he felt as if he were being strung along. It wasn't until during a lull in the gunfire that he heard a beeping sound not that far from him that he took notice. He didn't really know what those tubes he saw suspended in some weird support chassis were, but _did_ notice the notice the radiation symbol engraved on the side of one of them, and suddenly had a very good idea of what they were.

'You've got to be _fucking kidding me_!' Ichigo thought, suddenly realizing that there were several very large bombs dangling just a few yards from him.

These Geth weren't trying to survive, they were going to kill themselves and try to him with them in some crazy kamikaze strike! Gunfire suddenly not an issue, he Shunpoed over and grabbed the frame holding the bombs. For a half second he thought of throwing it over the hill and being done with the mess, but a quick heave and he realized just how sizable it was and knew immediately the thing would glass wherever it detonated and might takeout some off-shoot colony he didn't know about. So, Ichigo did the only logical thing he could.

He decided to chuck it into space.

With a heave, he lifted it and shot off as fast as he dared with a half dozen warheads. His speed steadily increased, breaking the sound barrier several times over as he slowly but steadily accelerated as smoothly as possible into the upper atmosphere. He didn't need to reach escape velocity or anything like that if he just kept pushing up, though he was pretty sure it wouldn't be too big of an issue anyway. He raced Yoruichi across the globe once just for the hell of it, and, while he naturally lost, he'd still cleared the distance from Japan to America in less than five minutes. So getting past atmosphere shouldn't be a problem for him, just had to make sure that there were no ships up there.

But he drew to a sudden stop several dozen kilometers above the planet, his sense prickling for the first time since he'd arrived. He locked onto something far below him, unable to actually see whatever it was, but feeling the energy as clear as day as if the bastard was holding up a neon sign.

'It's him!' Ichigo thought with a snarl.

His eyes narrowed as he saw the sight of exactly where he was, amongst the smoldering remains of that monstrous ship that had tried to kill him. Whatever was going on down there couldn't be good- it felt like he was gathering every last drop of his power. In that moment Ichigo was torn. Chuck the nukes as far away as possible and pray it was enough keep the colony from being utterly obliterated and go on with his mission, or keep going and hope the Horseman didn't pull yet another disappearing act while he was busy.

That choice was ripped from his hands when, with hardly a warning, he was swallowed by a beam of crimson energy for the second time that day. Except this time it was so much worse, and he screamed, carried up into the sky by the tide of relentless energy and well-past his original goal. He felt it, his spiritual pressure waver under the intense power and his skin start to blister and rip. He threw as much energy as he could outwards to protect his body, and heal the damage, but it was relentless.

'Shit! I have to get out of the beam!'

Above him, forgotten under the onslaught of power, the chassis of warheads warped, melted, and then gave way entirely.

Ichigo never knew what hit him, only that his world whited-out as he was engulfed in a brilliant blast of antimatter.

* * *

 _Eden Prime High Orbit_

Anderson watched the beam of bright crimson shoot out of the atmosphere and into the darkness of space, his eyes narrowing as he observed it. The energy reading from the thing was insane and he was glad his ships were well away from it. If not, well, he was sure he'd be down a vessel and crew.

"I want to know what the…"

The world was suddenly white, practically blocked from sight by a massive explosion. His eyes widened, recognizing a powerful upper atmosphere nuclear detonation. The how and why could wait, all that mattered right now was…

"Brace!" Anderson ordered, grabbing onto the railing and waiting.

Not two heartbeats later was their entire ship rocked, swaying like a true boat as it helplessly road the wave of force. The thinner atmosphere meant they weren't thrown nearly as hard as they could have been, but it was more than enough to throw anyone unprepared from their seats. The equipment sparked angrily from the sudden burst of energy, and Anderson cursed, hoping their radiation shielding hadn't failed.

"Sound off!" Anderson ordered.

One by one people called out and he felt his nerves settle for the moment. Most people were green, and while quite a few had some injury or another, the worst he heard reported were a few bashed knees and scrapes. But when he heard the barely audible gasps of pain from nearby did Anderson realize the pilot was hurt, and bad.

Casting aside his own shakiness, he moved for the piolet's chair. Jeff Monroe sat, half curled in his chair and cradling one arm as he did his best to control his breathing. Anderson would have checked on him, but knew he'd likely just end up breaking the poor man's ribs while trying to move him.

"Chakwas, I need you up here now!" Anderson barked, hand on his omni-tool.

"I am a little busy down here Captain, I have a lot of wounded here." The crisp reply came through after a moment's delay, sounding a little bit forceful and stressed.

"I need you up here. Joker is injured, looks like a broken arm or wrist, and I need your expertise."

"I will be up in a few minutes. Do not touch him." Chakwas' reply was instant this time, filled with the absolute authority only a doctor could have.

"Understood. Anderson out."

A quick scan of the bridge to find people being pulled back to their feet, and realized that they'd gotten lucky and had some time to prepare themselves. But others, deeper in the ship and busy working, wouldn't have had any time to get ready, suddenly thrown around and ripped away from whatever they were doing. The lower decks were probably riddled with concussions, sprains, and even broken bones.

"What was that explosion just now?" Anderson barked. He needed to know five minutes ago if there was a risk of getting hit again or somehow under attack.

"Unknown, but we are picking up massive amounts of radiation from the epicenter. Likely a nuclear device, over thirty megatons at least." Officer Trent called out, dropping into his station's seat and with one hand working the monitor. "Crap. Sir, some of the systems are out. We're getting a lot of electromagnetic interference."

"What about the rest of the Fleet and the ground teams?"

"Nothing sir, all signals are being overwhelmed by the discharge. We won't be getting in contact with anyone anytime soon."

Anderson scowled. No one knew what the hell had just happened or what it meant, and that was a dangerous thing. For all he knew, someone could be launching warheads at them and were readying their next shot at this very moment. He needed to get the fleet back in order to see about getting communications back up with the ground teams. Whatever that explosion was, it had fractured his fleet's formation and damaged communication between them, panic only avoided because of how well trained the soldiers were.

Anderson, helpless to do anything else until the expects patched things back together, looked out over Eden Prime, "Let's hope nothing else happens that takes us by surprise."

* * *

Shepard was sprinting with her team along the lengths of the Spaceport's main tram railway, fighting off miniscule resistance from the Geth and the rather disturbing glowing zombies they'd nicknamed Husks. Despite how sure she was that those…creatures were going to haunt her nightmares, they were weaker than even the lowest Geth soldier, running blindly into gunfire until they were destroyed. Small bursts of quick confrontation aside, it had been a slow and rather boring run, the opposition incredibly light and nothing but more of the same.

"Come on, we're still a click away from the Main Spaceport! Hustle up!" Mikkai barked, still in the lead and a good deal ahead of the rest of the troop.

To think the guy was in his sixties and still outpacing them.

Shepard took in a deep breath and quickly picked up the pace and tried to match her CO's stride. Which was nice in thought, but she was a full head shorter than him with equally shorter legs that just weren't going to cut it at this rate. But not one to be deterred, she picked up her speed and was at least able to get directly behind him.

"Resistance is pretty light sir!" Shepard called.

"Good thing too, means we will get to the Main Spaceport quicker." Mikkai responded.

Right now letting things slow them down was something that just couldn't be tolerated, not when the Beacon was still in the hands of their enemy. So fights were done while still practically running, like some sort of on-foot drive by, and the very real threat of being left behind for anyone who couldn't keep up loomed over their heads. Anything that hindered their progress had to either be bypassed or eliminated quickly.

There were dozens of Geth Dropships traveling in and out of the Space Port, and Mikkai knew for a fact that the Geth were running, probably loading the Beacon on a ship right now and deciding to cut their losses. He hoped the Fleet in orbit could keep the bastards from getting away too quickly and pick off a few of them. It risked destroying the Beacon, but better for it to be gone than to fall in the hands of the Geth. They had to hurry and reach the Space Port before the last of the transports left, hoping that the Beacon was still there.

Despite their resolve, the troop drew to a stunned halt when about a dozen sharp arcs of light cut across the sky, tearing apart just as many of the Geth dropships. Several slipped away between the claws that'd ripped the others to shreds, but the number of ships had easily been reduced to a quarter. It was obvious that Ichigo had easily beaten them to the scene, which was an equally good and bad thing.

Mikkai huffed, "I hope that knuckle head isn't blowing that Space Port up!"

"Knuckle head…?" Joshua said, looking to Greer and wondering if he heard that right. That was certainly less than an…awe-inspiring nickname for the anomaly.

"He sounds twenty years older than he should be..." Greer muttered back, giving his commander a sidelong glance.

Mikkai let out another bark, telling them to shut their holes and get back to running. There was a massive firefight going on at the Spaceport, and, while their backup wasn't even somewhat needed, it was best they got there before the entire place was levelled.

They were close now, only a few hundred meters from the structure that they could now begin to make out in the distance. But something else that was certainly not a dropship suddenly shot off into the sky, destroying the sound barrier and becoming nothing more than a back pinprick in a matter of seconds.

"The hell was that?" Joshua called out.

"I'm tracking it!" Rochelle said, raising her rifle and trying to get a read on the thing. But it was already several kilometers in the air and rapidly rising, well out of her range. "Damn, that's fast."

"You think…?" Shepard started, but she was promptly interrupted.

"Doesn't matter! We got to get to the Space…!"

A massive beam shot up from the valley ahead of them, smothering all sound with its sheer presence. It ripped the horizon in two, tearing across the sky and practically straight into space. Stunned, they rushed over to the side of the mountain precipice and looked down to the smoldering remains of the Geth's Dreadnaught.

"It's still kicking? It's in pieces and we saw the core detonate!" Shepard shouted, her voice sounding muffled even to her own ears.

"Tough son of a bitch. But what the hell is it firing at?" Mikkai said, looking up into the sky in vain. All he could see was red.

Or at least, that was the case until pure light exploded outward from the center of the red, bleaching the sky white. The soldier turned away, the sheer intensity burning their eyes and washing out the world around them. Mikkai ignored it, squinting through his visor and fingers at the edges of the expanding light. Clouds evaporated as the air itself was shoved carelessly aside and, with a start, he realized he could faintly see the wall of force heading their way. Quickly, he turned to grab Shepard and dove to the ground, and yelled for the rest to do the same.

"Take cover!"

Training and experience had them reacting without question, diving to the ground and many under the tracks themselves. A few tense moments later and the shockwave washed over them, pressing them flush with the metal and doing its best to flatten them all entirely. The massive blast of concussive force was brief, but even for that short moment, through all their armor and shields; they felt their bodies groan under the pressure as if the sky itself were lying on their backs.

A second later it was over, air rushing back into the eerily silent void and their lungs alike. No longer feeling as if they were about to be crushed, the soldiers pulled themselves up from where they'd scattered, some coughing to reassure themselves that they could finally breathe again. It was over within a few seconds before the air came rushing back to filled in the void. When that happened they all pulled themselves off the ground and crawled out from under the tram. Above them it looked as if someone had torn a hole in the sky, leaving behind a perfect, cloudless void.

"That was a goddamn nuke." Mikkai growled.

"Where the hell did it come from?" Rochelle asked, getting up on shaky legs and trying to not wobble and sway. "Was it one of our ships?"

"No, that wasn't anything we were carrying. That was a couple dozen megatons for sure." Mikkai thought, narrowing his eyes.

A small ball of fire dropped from the sky, falling towards them without any signs of slowing. It hit the Spaceport ahead of them with a resounding boom and screeching metal that shook the entire mountain. The shockwaves, however, didn't subside and instead grew in intensity until the ground was rocking and pitching under their feet. Supports buckled and ripped, and suddenly the floor dropped several feet, slanting sharply down and slowly falling apart.

"Shit, the mountain's collapsing!" Shepard cried out and scrambled to her feet before she tumbled down the new slope.

They held on for dear life as the section of the mountain range they occupied threatened to fall away. The edge dipped lower and lower until they were threatening to slip down despite their efforts. With a tearing snap, the Spaceport tore away from the rest of the pathway, crashing under the tide of the rockslide and disappearing down the hill. The railway gave one last shudder before finally settling. For the second time, the soldiers pulled themselves up on shaky legs, stumbling a bit at the slight angle the railway was now on. Ahead of them, the Spaceport and a huge chunk of the surrounding area was simply gone, disappeared into the deep valley below and leaving their path cut off.

"Dammit! This is Major Mikkai to Pishon FOB, I need a pickup now!"

The only response he got was the pitiless buzz of static. He scowled and tapped the transceiver in his helmet, bringing up his Omni-tool to see if he could get something out that way.

"This is Mikkai, does anyone ready me?"

Again he was met with static, his Omni-tool warning of interference. Hell, now that he looked, he saw that even the Omni-tool was flickering and bordering on malfunctioning.

"Shit." Mikkai growled.

"Must be the electromagnetic interference from the explosion." Joshua said, lifting up his own Omni-tool and waving his hand through the air, watching as the normally reliable device struggled to accurately track his movement and left behind flickering distortions. "We won't be calling for help anytime soon."

"Then we keep moving on foot." Mikkai ordered, turning to glare at the rocky slope ahead of them. "Check your gear and make sure it's working; we're going down the mountain."

* * *

The Spaceport was utterly destroyed. Towers and catwalks jutted out from where they were half buried under several thousand tons of rock, scraps of platforms and dropships littering the rocky grave haphazardly. Amongst the scattered pile of destruction, a single figure breathed hacking breaths, pushing aside stone and metal to dig his way to freedom.

Punching his way through the last of the obstacles that barred his way to open air, Ichigo crawled out, desperately pulling his body out to freedom. He stumbled his way into something that might have been a standing position, hissing as his bones and muscles stitched themselves back into proper alignment. Outwardly, he looked remarkably fine outside of being remarkably dirty and a little scuffed up, but he could feel his insides sloshing around worryingly. Regeneration was powerful, but it struggled to repair his organs even as it stitched back together all the tissue surrounding them, and his mouth tasted worryingly of blood. The world spun and Ichigo cursed, falling to one knee and trying to will his dizziness to fade away.

Everything was so bright and flashing that it was impossible to tell which way was up and what was down, amongst a sea of agony. That explosion had done more than shake him up: the heat and pressure had nearly torn him apart. It had still half-way succeeded and there was only so much he could do about his insides with Blut.

"That… shouldn't have hurt as much… as it should have…" Ichigo hissed, pushing himself up with sheer willpower alone.

His mind was a cloudy mess, shaking with a pounding headache that shattered any attempts he made at focusing. He stumbled around, practically blind to the world around him, trying to ground himself with the pain, yet finding it to be nearly impossible. He vaguely remembered the wave of burning red light that had clawed past his defense, ripping into his skin and ate away at his life.

"War… he did that… he made me vulnerable…" Ichigo mumbled, slumping against a twisted spiral of metal to try and regain his energy.

That was the only explanation, but even so that hit still rattled him.

"Gotta find… him…" Ichigo pushed away and continued to trudge forward, swaying unsteadily. The beam had been from that giant ship, but modified, changed, until it _hurt_ , and he needed to get to its remains before War could do anything else.

But before he could get far he heard a strange whine, like a machine powering up. At first he ignored it, thinking some Geth had managed to survive and was going to try and shoot him again. As weak as he felt, he still had enough power rushing through his veins to repel any attack they could throw at him, and he really didn't care anymore if it ran away. But then something seized his whole body at once, startling him and pulling him to the ground.

Panic brought on a moment of lucidity and he awkwardly turned to the source. The strange pillar had somehow managed to stay upright throughout the chaos, an unnatural ring of untouched ground surrounding it instantly set him on edge even more than the strange green energy. He reached for his fallen Zanpakuto with plans to destroy this…thing before it could do whatever it wanted, but Ichigo yelped as he was suddenly ripped from the ground and suspended in the air before the pillar.

His eyes narrowed as he was held in place as if somehow had cast a weak Bakudo on him. Just what was this thing?

The field that held him wasn't particularly strong and could easily be shattered with a bit of his reiatsu being released. Yet, when Ichigo attempted to do so his mind was suddenly assaulted with an image he couldn't understand. They poured into his brain like a tidal wave, places, people(?), creatures and monsters, emotions and feelings that weren't his, all of it assaulted his senses.

It was happening too fast for him to comprehend or make sense of, but the scars it cared into his very soul were incredibly vivid and deep. He could feel it, the fighting, the suffering, the dying over and over again until his life was nothing but that cycle. Hurting, suffering, not even allowed to mourn the fallen as the world, the empire, collapsed and their struggles meant nothing. They were dying, dying, dying, _dying, dying-_

Dead, every last one of them.

The galaxy was silent.

Ichigo collapsed and cried for reasons he didn't understand, but suddenly _knew_ as intimately as his own life and dreams. It was gone, it was all gone, and even as he surrendered to the darkness of his own mind, the cycle continued to play.

* * *

 **There you have it, hope you liked it, I certainly did.**


	10. Chapter 10

****VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE: PLEASE READ****

 **Now this is a chapter some people have wanted me to do for a while now, one that I have been wanting to do actually so I could make a few announcements here and there. From my personal life to this story and its futures, don't worry they are not going to be discontinued.**

 **But I may be off for a while.**

 **The first is the OC's, I think many of you know I am creating a lot of OC's for this story, specifically commissions for these characters to be made into art. Some my own and some belonging to other people on this site that I am friends with. Well to let you know that is costing me a lot of money to do. In fact I have calculated it to be a collection of about $9802.98, I have near spent ten grand on commissions and art pieces for these stories. That is a lot of money over three years. A lot of money. Money I had no idea I was spending that much.**

 **So comes to my second thing, getting some of it back from those who are willing to help. I plan to start an account and have donations made towards getting more characters made for these stories. People who want to put money forward to have commissions done for their characters and others I am willing to do. But I cannot keep spending money like this. I have spent so much money on commissions it is far from funny or practical that a hobby turned into an investment that is draining me of so much.**

 **I am happy to do it, but when you look at $9802.98 you get a knot in your stomach at seeing it. I was a little shocked and horrified I had spent that much money on commissions. For now I have stopped it, just so I can get a hold of this situation and plan it out. Hence why I am starting a account. I will put a link on my profile when I get it set up and it is ready.**

 **The final piece is me regarding my stories, for the next few weeks I will be off doing work on this account along with getting my life in order. I need people to help me keep this story going because it may be something I love but I cannot afford to continue making commissions and expending my hard earned money on something I use all my free time doing.**

 **Also with my father in the hospital, work picking up, me taking care of my nan and the house and all other things that are going on I am simply too busy and stressed out to consider doing anything else than crawling into my bed and going to sleep and never waking up. Because of that I need a break. These chapters were two weeks overdue, it took me two weeks of screwing around to get them done because of how stressed I am and I need a break.**

 **Please, help me. Give me some space when I need it but help me with the money to bring these stories to life, even if it is one dollar, I am happy with that. It is something I need help with because I cannot lose anymore of this. So please help me.**

 **Next chapters I update will tell you about how I am going and also that things are improving. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Are We Alone**

 **Chapter 10: Lines Drawn in the Sand**

 _Eden Prime, Pishon_

The colony of Pishon was in upheaval as chaos and confusion was laid bare, shaken souls slowly picking themselves up, only to see the world around them destroyed. The pressure wave and sudden earthquake had toppled buildings, ripped free walkways and collapsed bridges burying an unknown number of people alive, if they were lucky. Marines had cast off their own injuries and immediately threw themselves on the rubble, digging up little else but cooling bodies for their efforts.

The dark mood had smothered all traces of confidence they'd once had, leaving an empty, gnawing despair in their chests. It was a nightmare worse than if they'd been slaughtered by the Geth, a hollow victory with the civilians they'd told to barricade themselves now buried under the walls they'd sought for safety. And yet, while some let themselves wallow in despair over their failure, others made of sturdier stuff kept pushing forward. Orders were barked and relayed, whipping the men back in line and focused and away from bleaker thoughts.

"We got eyes on anyone?" Sergeant Andrew called out. His radio was busted with the techs only able to report static from the interference. They were effectively stranded until they either worked around it or help was sent.

Waiting wasn't exactly the best of options for them, with several of his boys with lighter armor and weaker barriers not in great shape. Reports of mild burns and other injuries had flooded in, but there wasn't much that could be done with the severely limited equipment they had. He'd rather save what they had for those that really needed it. The soldiers could grit their teeth and bear with some discomfort until were restocked or returned to the ship.

But with no contact with the fleet in orbit, that wouldn't be happening anytime soon. The explosion had been so powerful that the best they could hope was that contact was cut off only due to interference and not some other, mechanical, reasons. Morale was bad enough without seeing one of their ships suddenly plummet from the sky, or something equally disastrous.

"Nothing! That nuke really did a number on us. From what I can see, this entire valley has been levelled." Corporal Singe replied.

"A big one at that: it fucking cleared out the sky!" Corporal Tyler groaned, hand shooting up to her face and grimacing as the tender skin stung.

She was just one of a few hundred that had burn scars, probably permanent with how long she'd have to wait to be treated, and a reminder of what the hell happened down here. Her words rung true, the skies eerily clear for likely hundreds of kilometers in a perfect circle probably visible from space. It had to have been several dozen megatons at least; there was no doubt about it.

None of the troops had heard anything from the Major yet, and apprehension was steadily mounting among the recovering ranks. Last anyone had heard, he'd charged through the path of destruction the anomaly had left in his wake in an attempt to reach the Prothean Beacon somewhere near the Space Port. From what they could see, that'd been directly below the epicenter of the explosion. Not exactly a comforting thought. Even less so when they had no way of knowing if those were the only nukes.

They were lucky, in fact, to get away with only some burns and collateral damage. Their barriers and armor had given some protection, enough to make it out mostly unscathed, but even that didn't help in the long run. In fact some of it was actually peeling off, the armour having melted and burned away, that was how intense the explosion had been. Now all they had to worry about was radiation poisoning, hence why they needed to get everyone out of this hell hole.

"Eyes on the shuttle!"

The familiar blue and silver shuttle moved in recklessly fast, landing easily in what remained of the plaza. It wasn't quite contact with the fleet, but the soldiers perked up regardless. The sight of their only operating shuttle returning filled them with nervous tension. It'd been sent out to find Mikkai and his squad and hopefully drag the Beacon back with them, so just what had happened to rush them?

The shuttle landed heavily, doors flying open before it'd even finished rocking. N6 operatives exited hastily and with a hint of panic in their movements. Only Mikkai seemed calm, stone-faced and professionally detached as he stood by the door and directed the soldiers out. The strongly grim behavior confused the rest of the men. Such highly trained and elite operatives, what could have possibly rattled them? It wasn't until the final two members exited, a stretcher burdened with a limp body carried between then, that they realized it.

Many were aghast and shocked to see the individual laid out on the stretcher, it was truly an expected reaction seeing a godly being such as he left in such a state. Bloody and bruises, and completely unconscious, even appearing to be dead.

"It can't…"

"How did he… what happened to him?"

"What did that?"

Ichigo, the Guardian of Elysium, and easily the most well-known and adored of the anomalies, had been brought low before their very eyes. What remained of his clothing was nothing but singed rags hanging limply from his burned and bloodied body. He didn't stir even as the whispers reached a fevered pitch at the sight of their new god they'd thought invincible lain before them, broken and unmoving.

"Is he dead?"

It was unclear who asked it, but the words couldn't ever be taken back and the area exploded into panic. Shouts of alarm and unrestrained horror as despair rose up among the ranks, the circle collapsing as people pushed and shoved to see if their worst nightmare had come true. That the one man in the galaxy thought to be unbeatable, an unofficial symbol of humanity who'd inspired them all, was gone.

"Back off! Back off! He's not dead!" Mikkai barked, shamelessly pushing aside people and moving for the only standing building in the entire colony.

He was relieved when he ran into Ericson, who, thank all the stars in heaven, had a cool enough head to keep the wave of marines from falling on the body of the anomaly and crying, or something equally melodramatic. He couldn't believe these guys were acting this crazy, trying to get close to the body of this man like he was Jesus Christ. Well, he practically was new-age Jesus at this point, if Jesus was a ginger Asian with giant swords.

God, his life was crazy.

"That the medical station?" Mikkai asked, well shouting, over the crowd and looking to one of the only standing building left in the colony.

"What's left of it!" Ericson replied, helping push past the last of the crowd and getting the team inside.

They barred the door and placed a few guards outside to keep out any extra enthusiastic idiots that thought to try and weep over their deity. With the state he'd seen a few of them in, he wouldn't be surprised if they would have forced their way in if given half a chance. It was astonishing to Mikkai to see the sheer mania the supposedly hardened marines displayed whenever they saw the anomaly.

'Guess faith does some crazy shit to you.' Mikkai thought.

Except he couldn't really talk, not when he'd been gaping just as badly as anyone else when they'd found Ichigo practically dead. The shock and horror had slapped him so hard he'd nearly collapsed in the rubble they'd found him on, stretched out like an offering before the Beacon. No one had even cared they'd found their original goal, not when their whole world had seemed to collapse in that moment. Shepard, in particular, seemed to be taking the entire thing the hardest, movements too ridged and slow and numb to everything that seemed to be happening.

He'd noticed she was still carrying that huge fucking sword they'd strapped awkwardly to her back even though they'd have a sort-of rest here. Heck, she didn't even seem to notice it, and while he knew Shepard wasn't weak, that had to be at least sixty or more pounds of dead weight added to her already less than feather-light armor. Her eyes were that strange wide-open hollow look he saw on people who were struggling through their denial of reality, eyes skipping up and down the battered teen as medics started swarming in.

Mikkai wondered if he should tell Shepard to put down the sword before she really messed up her back, but thought better of it. The sword was probably comforting with its oppressive weight, grounding her so she couldn't get lost in her own internal spiral of ramblings. It honestly seemed completely impractical to use, but guess that was just his common sense getting in the way of reality. The kid swung the thing around like it was nothing, amazingly managing to not cut himself to ribbons on an edge Mikkai had nearly lost a few fingers just getting near. With that thought, he moved forward, hand brushing the black blade strapped to his belt.

* * *

'That explosion… he had to have been inside it.'

Shepard knew that it was the only way Ichigo could have been hurt as badly as he was. Taking several dozen megatons of force and only getting banged up and not outright disintegrated…it was a scary thought. Not even a Dreadnaught would be standing after that. Hell, a Dreadnaught couldn't handle a hundred kiloton shot, much less something literally five hundred times stronger. It was an insane, illogical, impossible, thing to ever happen, but she'd seen the proof with her own eyes.

She also knew that the gods, no, the anomalies, weren't nearly as powerful as humanity had led itself to believe.

It was an easy thing to do, really. Kenpachi had shrugged off dozens of rounds from an Anti-air cannon that punched through Frigates like tissue paper. Ichigo took a goddamned death ray to the face from the biggest Dreadnaught Shepard had ever seen and had only seemed mildly annoyed. The feats were so amazing, bordering on fantastical, that it was easy to overlook one simple fact: both of the anomalies had been injured.

It was small, barely noticeable. Kenpachi had looked a little bruised with maybe a gash or two, the videos weren't the best quality, and Ichigo looked a little sunburnt at worst; the kind you didn't even treat because it hardly hurt and was practically gone with a goodnight's sleep. Both of them had barely slowed down instead of reduced to paste like they should have been, going right back to cutting through bodies and buildings and ships like all that power thrown at them only amounted a half-stumble in their relentless stride. But the fact remained that they _had_ been hurt. Even if it was only the tiniest amount, even if it barely affected them, it meant that, theoretically, enough power could seriously hurt, if not kill, them.

And the proof was practically at her feet, surrounded by frantic medics and covered in his own blood. It really put things into scary-sharp perspective and forced her to wonder: Just how powerful were the anomalies really? Because right now she could only wonder just how blinded by hero-worship she'd been, to think that they had truly been invincible even with all the signs contrary to that had been right in front of her eyes.

'I wonder if this is what all those apostles felt, right before Jesus was nailed to a cross.' Shepard thought, but there wasn't a drop of humor left in her. Truthfully, she was like the rest, in the middle of a crisis of faith and wondering just what she was to do with herself now.

She recalled what Ichigo had said to her not so long ago, how he and his people weren't gods. Maybe he was right, but she'd thrown out what he'd said without even realizing it, thinking he was just being humble. She really should have actually considered that possibility and even taken it to heart, since wouldn't the anomalies know what they were better than she ever could?

But Shepard still believed, with all her heart that these anomalies could be their chance to finally make people stand up and stop being stepped on. Ichigo gave her that feeling as he stalked forward without any hesitation, that if she were brave enough to follow him into hell, that she'd become something more. More than some street urchin and scum, she'd rise up and be the best and greatest she could be, if only to keep up with him. That, in spite of her beginnings and all the pain she went through, or maybe because of it, she could become just as mighty and powerful as him, if only she stepped forward to do it.

He inspired her, humanity, to get stronger, even with sanctions and others fear a heavy weight around their throat. It dug their heads down into the dirt, smothered them, and yet, through all the Council had done, humanity hadn't broken. They grit their teeth and pulled against the chain, growing tougher from the strain, learning to live independently. The tighter the chains put on, the harder the fight to get out, and when they were loose god help those who'd scorned them.

"I can't get a scan on him; I need something to get through his skin!" A medic shouted, snapping Shepard out of her musings. She glanced over and saw the man hovering over Ichigo's torso with a bent needle, clearly at a loss at what to do.

"The hell? Look at this!" Another medic said, holding out a washcloth with blood on it as if it were cursed.

Shepard wondered what the fuss was about until, without warning, the blood on the rag seemed to evaporate, disappearing completely in a matter of seconds. Any smear of crimson removed from the body below them faded in a matter of moments, not even a tint of red left behind.

Shepard watched, fascinated, as the medics argued frantically over the strange phenomena while doing their best to work around it. A hand suddenly clasped her shoulder firmly, making her jolt and look up to see Mikkai behind her. He looked as stern as usual, but Shepard noticed a small amount of trepidation in his frown and followed him to the side of the room without a word. Something was up and he needed to talk with her about it.

When both were in a nice secluded corner, Mikkai quickly spun her around and begun cutting off those straps that kept the massive blade latched onto her back. It fell less than a foot but still embedded itself nearly six inches into the metal floor. Shepard felt a wave of relief, suddenly realizing just how heavy that thing was; she hadn't been forced to carry that much since her training in basic. With the literal weight off her back she turned back around and they got to talking.

"I think we both know that Ichigo being here like this is going to be a problem." Mikkai said, looking at the smaller blade and latching the sealed handle onto the grip of the larger weapon. It looked strange, but oddly right, and the feeling of being watched suddenly left him.

That was the understatement of the century, but she supposed it was more politically correct than saying 'we're royally fucked'. Now that Ichigo was unconscious, a state that these anomalies had never been left in before and most people probably thought was outright impossible, it was practically a given someone would try and take advantage of it. It was an open secret that there were rogue paramilitary groups, alien and human alike, that were doing everything in their power to try and capture an anomaly. And now they had one on a silver platter.

"You think someone like Cerberus will come along and try to take him?" Shepard asked.

"They're the least of my worries. I'm worried about when the Council eventually gets here." Mikkai snorted, knowing full well that this planet will only be occupied by Alliance soldiers for so long. Not when it seemed to be a hotspot for trouble.

Shepard really wished he hadn't reminded her of that little fun fact, but she knew that as soon as the Council got wind of the situation down here they would be all over this place. The Prothean Beacon, Saren Arterus, and an incapacitated anomaly, it was the trifecta that tickled the balls of any politician with an agenda to push. But everything here should have been kept under wraps for a while, meaning the Council likely would still be mobilizing a force to respond to the attack. All they had to do was get at least Ichigo and Saren off world, then the Beacon could be left as a red herring. Not the best of outcomes, but it'd justify an otherwise random Geth attack until the Alliance had put together a better plan. If they didn't, then this planet would almost surely be put under a blackout like so many others had been.

That was the usual method the Council used to keep information about the anomalies from getting out. It was hard to rally around something that barely appeared, so securing a site and completely blacking out all communications while they interrogated the residence was amazingly effective. Only a few cases of this where known publically, two, maybe three incidence where someone had snuck information to the outside, but the Alliance knew of at least three dozen colonies and counting. The only reason no fuss was raised was because, while the blackouts and interrogations were harsh, the Council was at least smart enough to not actually damage the colony or people on it.

But if they learned that an anomaly was still planet-side and vulnerable, then they would shut the entire planet down and censor everything that might be even remotely related. Not a whisper of what had happened here would ever been seen in the public eye.

"We need to get him off-world now. Not only him but our prisoner as well." Mikkai jerked his head towards the back of the room and Shepard turned, surprised to see the Turian Spectre there. Sedated and having been treated enough so he wouldn't keel over on them.

"If anyone says anything about Ichigo being here, they'll censor this place right off the damn galactic map and we'll all be taken away for interrogation. And once that's done, they'll have all our balls if we even so much as make a peep." Mikkai said. "So right now we need to make sure Saren isn't taken by them, because he sure as hell will blow the whistle on us to get a deal."

"Even if we do get them off-world, the Council will probably just search the ships when they get here, they have that authority." Shepard pointed out, though she wasn't half as concerned with that as keeping everyone's mouth shut.

What the Council didn't know they couldn't act on. They'd probably jump at the chance to be the good guys for once, sweeping in to save the colony and provide relief.

"I know. That's why we'll get Ichigo to a medical team and they'll try to see if they can wake Ichigo's ass up. Hopefully he can drag himself back to wherever he came from before the Council gets here. If not, he can go crawl into a closet or something; I don't care where he hides so long as he isn't seen. Once that's taken care of, we can act like he was never here, pretend the Geth dropped a bomb that detonated too early or something and blew up their own dreadnaught to try and get us. But the real trick is keeping Saren quiet, which isn't going to happen. So we get him off-world and to Arcturus. He doesn't talk, they won't know about Ichigo."

Shepard nodded along with the plan Mikkai outlines for her. The entire tragedy could still have a silver lining. It wasn't exactly the perfect ending she'd thought they'd have when Ichigo showed up, but she'd take whatever they could get. The Alliance Parliament could use this assault on Eden Prime to push the Council out of their space, maybe even dropping these sanctions completely depending on how other species reacted.

It was a risky situation they'd found themselves in, with even the slightest mistake will have it all blow up in their faces. As long as mankind was still bound by that red tape the Council had set up they would never be free, and this chance all hinged on making sure that the Council didn't get the ammunition they needed to keep them silent. That meant they couldn't know about Ichigo or let them interrogate Saren, at least not until they were ready. Even a single day was enough to spread word of what had happened to every Alliance colony in their space, and then there would be nothing the Council could do.

"What do you need me for then?" Shepard asked after a long moment to swallow the situation.

"Get the troops settled; we don't need them going bat shit crazy over the fact their messiah is dying." Mikkai replied, glancing towards the medics that had been reduced to cleaning off the weirdly evaporating blood and not much else. Delicate surgical equipment wasn't made to cut his skin, no matter how normal it looked and felt. "So go out there and tell the marines to man up and keep their mouths shut."

"What am I, his fucking spokesperson?"

"Go be a prophet or something, people listen to that holy bullshit nowadays." Was Mikkai's snark right back at her, slapping Shepard heartily on the shoulder and turning away. "I need to get Ericson and see if I can get in contact with Anderson."

Shepard watched him leave and had to let out an irritated huff, hoping he hurt his hand on her armor. She had been given the damn 'honor' of having to talk to the masses and calm them down. Never before had she been so glad for the awful public speaking lessons she'd been forced to take after she was declared a hero. Something about the War Hero giving rousing, inspiration, speeches was good for morale. Or it was just probably a way to squeeze some good publicity out of her.

Really, it took more effort that she liked to admit to not be socially awkward in front of everyone. It hadn't helped she'd discovered she had more than a little stage fright

But that was a different matter.

Now she had to figure out what to do about Ichigo's little cult waiting outside and desperate to know what was going on. She went over a few ideas in her head she couldn't come up with anything to rouse their spirits while still being honest. Deciding that no matter what she did, this was destined to end poorly, she went with a slightly different approach.

With that in mind, she moved for the door and pulled out the latch, letting it swing open to the faces of dozens of marines waiting impatiently. Not a single one of them didn't look at least a little concerned, worry clear in the eyes, even the most grim-faced men there didn't look anxious. Their hero had been hurt badly, shaking the foundations of what they thought they could believe in and unsure how to process it all. But she knew how to snap them back into gear.

"Listen up boys and girls, we've got work to do!" Shepard called out, making sure to practically strut down the steps and look a whole lot more confident than she felt. "We still got a colony to search! We don't know how many people are still alive out here and we need to find them! Get ready for some search and rescue!"

They seemed to be taken by surprise by the orders, as if they were confused by her attempt to change the subject.

"Hey, what's up with the Guardian? Is he alright?" Someone called out causing a wave of rumbling whispers among the ranks.

"Does it matter?" Shepard barked, looking irritated as she let out a barrage of words. "You fucking marines are standing around like a bunch of FNGs who are worried people will see your wet panties! Suck it up! You've got a job to do! Gawking at the guy who saved this fucking colony is not the way to do it!"

Well, at least they'd stopped muttering and looking two seconds from a panic.

"He took the bullet for us, a big fucking one at that! So the least we can do is not huddle around him like a one year old looking for his mother's tit!" Shepard just let it roll off the tongue at this point. "Give the guy the respect he deserves and don't make fools of yourselves, you hear me? You are marines of the Alliance Navy! He did his part so let's do ours and get your asses in gear and find anyone out there that needs our help! The fighting is over but that doesn't mean are job is done, and we're not leaving here until we find everyone! Living, dead, it doesn't matter; we're making sure they are found! You got it!?"

"Yes Ma'am!"

She was certain everyone let off a shout now that their balls weren't stuck in their ovaries. God, she had spent way too much time around Mikkai. Ignoring that little tidbit, she was pretty happy with herself. A few choice words and these Marines were acting like proper soldiers again.

"Get too it then!"

* * *

 _SSV Achilles_

Anderson scowled as he looked out through the portside window on the bridge, unhappy with the damaged state of the fleet. No, very nearly devastated would be a better word for it. Any closer to the explosion and half of it wouldn't even have been left, in fact.

No one had expected to be hit by a pressure wave when they were practically in space, and the suddenly wave of force from their side had resulted in some nasty collisions. Hull tears contained only by rather alarmingly damaged shield emitters hung open as gaping wounds, pieces of metal drifting near the damage eerily. Only half of the ships were operational at the moment, but even those unaffected required desperate repairs.

A few technicians had run the numbers and estimated the blast that'd hit them to be intended to be fifty or more megatons, their only saving grace being the thinner atmosphere peeling off most of the energy. They were lucky none of the ships were too close, nor that any had been thrown towards the planet to almost inevitably crash. But they were practically dead in the water for the next few hours, even after their relief fleet arrived. When that would be, Anderson had no idea. Hackett should have arrive some time ago, or at least sent a message if something had come up.

Anderson didn't like it.

He squashed the unease for the moment, "Do we have communications groundside?"

If Hackett wasn't here then something had to be wrong on his side of the Relay, meaning that Anderson had to do what he could with what he had and hope for the best. First, he needed to get a hold of anyone down in the colony and see if they were alright. And maybe understand just what was going on down there.

"Nothing sir, still not picking up anything other than interference from that detonation." One of his Communication Officers, Corporal Amina, answered.

Anderson was really starting to worry now, no matter how much he tried to help it. He had hundreds of men and woman and thousands of unprotected civilians down there, in the middle of an area likely being contaminated by radiation at this very moment. His ship, thankfully still mostly operational, was already detecting alarming radiation levels from the explosion, leaving whatever hadn't been thrown into space to rain down on the world below.

"Any ships we can send down? I'll take anything to get a team down there to at least get us some information."

"We've been trying to get in contact with some of the other ships, but the ones we have contacted say their shuttles are all damaged. We won't be doing any rescuing for a while, Captain." Corporal Amina replied.

Anderson forced himself to remain calm and the pillar of authority he was seen as, and only nodded tersely at the information. He wished there was some way they could hurry things up; with every minute that crawled by the chances that the Council would show up increased and then stumbled upon the Beacon and several other things he didn't want seen. This site wasn't secure and he wanted to change that. If Hackett could get here with his Fleet they could make an old fashioned blockade and actually prevent the Council from deploying whatever teams and forces they had on hand.

But, until he heard word or saw the Admiral, there was nothing he could do but wait for repairs to be done and pray that someone friendly came their way before the Council did.

"Sir, we are getting a communication from the relay buoy. It's heavily encrypted."

Anderson knew exactly who that would be.

"Patch it through." Anderson ordered, keeping himself calm as he waited for his old friend to tell him the bad news.

When the screen popped open, it was a display of flaring static and scrambled colors Anderson couldn't have identified if his life depended on it.

"… -son ca… Damn i… And…on...!"

"Can you clear it up?" Anderson asked slowly,

"Cleaning it up now, sir, a moment please." Ensign Douglas replied, fingers tapping at his holographic screen. After a moment, it snapped to clarity, with only an occasional shuddering distortion, "That should work, but there might be some residual interference. I will try to keep the line clear."

"Good." Anderson replied, turning back to the screen to find the Admiral looking less than pleased. "Admiral, where are you? You were supposed to arrive an hour ago."

"I am on Arcturus Station, along with my fleet. I've been forced into drydock, I'm not coming." Hackett replied, shaking his head and sighing. "We've been caught red handed, and now the Council is on its way."

Anderson felt his stomach tighten and his heart quicken with a flair of panic. There…really wasn't any worse news he could have gotten short of a full declaration of war.

"How?" Anderson asked, hoping he didn't sound as tired as he suddenly felt.

"They monitored our chatter. They're allowed to access all military chatter between fleets when engaging enemy forces." Hackett replied. "They know everything, the Beacon, Ichigo, and what we planned on doing with all of it. They even know Saren is down there. Anderson, the Council is going to cover up everything here."

Anderson knew that, it'd happened so many times before, what was one more to them? Cover it up, hide the information and use it to try and track the anomaly's movements to mostly likely attempt to capture one if possible. But most of all, do their best to starve off the rumors and legends surrounding the powerful beings before humanity grew too attached, too rowdy and tried be like the anomalies' and destroy those that threatened them. The Council's motives and plans were predictable, but there wasn't much that could be done against them, even knowing all they did.

They wanted to crack down on that and make sure that people didn't get the idea in their heads to fight against the Council's little tyrannical occupation. Information was key to doing that, by keeping it sealed and away from the population so that they remain mostly ignorant. Or ignorant to the real details that would have them storming government buildings in protest to get the Council out of their yard.

The Council were making sure that the people didn't know the true depths of their sanctions, trying to hide how much damage it was doing.

It wasn't doing them much good, the people were growing more rowdy with every passing day as a new story of an anomaly, be it real or fake, was born and spread into people's hearts. Control was slipping and the Council was desperate to maintain the peace until such a point they could pull out and restore order and good relations. Well, at least the order part of that would happen if Anderson had anything to say about that, but it was more likely that hell was as cold as the North Pole and Santa lived there with Easter Bunny than the Council actually saving face after the brewing storm settled.

So the Council would just double down and continue to cover up whatever they could, surprising even the knowledge that the Geth had attacked a colony and that one of their highest operatives had been on the planet. Even if by some miracle they did convict and charge him with the crimes he'd committed, it was unlikely it would be made public. Not when that would risk revealing why he was being dismissed and then imprisoned. But considering the many other monstrous things he had gotten away with and never was prosecuted for, it was likely he'd slip right through the very wide gaps in the justice system.

It was almost up to the toss of a coin if Saren would be charged or not. That was what galled Anderson the most.

"There has to be something we can do." Anderson said. "The Beacon…"

"The Beacon is almost surely going to be taken by them when this all over, and we'll be charged for concealing and then conspiring to use ancient technology against the Council." Hackett replied.

Considering that the Admiral was ordered to do so with several incredibly important people, including the Prime Minister, it was likely all their heads were going to roll. A whole rather overdramatic show would be made of their 'plot to defy the Council and galactic peace' would be made, until they were all forced to resign and rot in prison. Even with how much it'd surely anger the people, the aftermath would be easier to tame and handle than if Hackett wasn't feeding that political wildfire from a distance.

"Listen, just get as many people off the planet as fast possible. If we can get them to Earth they can spread the word." Hackett said. "We can still turn this around if we act quickly, so get a ship and get it to earth quickly."

"I can't do that Admiral, most of my Fleet is dead in the water; we got hit by the shockwave of a fifty megaton nuke. We won't be rescuing anyone from below, not when we need help just as much as they do." Anderson grit out, knowing that they had just used up the last of their rope and were already dangling.

Hackett very nearly lost it at that, hands tight and lips drawing back to swear. Except he could only bring himself to sigh, suddenly seeming so much older as all his plans fell apart and chance after chance slipped between his fingers. With the Council coming and no one able to escape from Eden Prime, anything regarding this attack was going to simple cease to exist.

"We need a new angle on this, one that actually helps us and gets the Council off our backs long enough to figure out a way to save our asses." Hackett said quickly, deciding nothing would work out with the way things were.

Right now they were on the chopping block with the executioner sharpening the axe. They had to keep that blade blunt for as long as possible by whatever means necessary. The two men had no illusions that they'd both be detained within the next few hours at most, leaving them only that precious time to sort out a game plan. But that was the problem: they had nothing to protect themselves or reliably hold over the Council's head anymore.

Everyone that could challenge the Council and make their lives difficult was on this otherwise unremarkable planet and were all practically already convicted and waiting to be stripped of their power. With them out of the way the rest of the Government would resort to twiddling their thumbs and hoping this problem goes away, all the while ignoring the people demanding change and freedoms to be reinstated.

With how strained their economy and military was at the moment they would be lucky if the Council let up simply because they pitied them.

"Can we reveal anything?" Anderson asked, knowing that the communications sent to Hackett could be leaked to the public 'accidently', but would it be enough?

"No, we need something heavy to hit the Council with. Word of an attack isn't going to do it, we need to show the people what is going on and make them see just how much damage the Council has caused." Hackett replied.

Revealing the Council has been covering up events and information was nothing new, and practically expected by even the general masses. Attacks once hidden had been leaked before, but often with grossly inaccurate information that just so happened to make the entire incident more palatable to the public. This would be no different; the STG would do their work properly and make sure nothing got out, at least, not for long.

"We're dead aren't we?" Anderson cut straight to the heart of it all, slumping forward a bit with defeat weighing heavy on his shoulders

"Looks like it." Hackett replied, dropping into his chair and massaging the bridge of his nose. "Do what you have to do Anderson; we can't do any more than that."

His fleet was barely holding itself together, the bulk of his forces were stuck planetside, and he was about to be met with a Council Fleet that was going to gleefully string him up for slaughter later. They were all but done for, the only upside being that his people would at least get some much needed medical treatment.

"Sir, we have a message from the surface!"

Anderson looked up lamely and with a press of the button listened to the message.

"This is Major Mikkai… Pishon has been levelled and we…. Survivors and require immediate evacuation." Anderson listened carefully and realized how sick he was getting of his shoddy communications. "Repeat… Ichigo is down… down, was hit by the… currently unconscious and in need… attention. Do…read me, Achilles? I… right away."

Anderson looked on, not seeing anything but the perfect disaster play out in his mind. This was an absolute living fucking nightmare right now. An anomaly was still on the planet instead of being incredibly evasive like normal at the _worst possible time_. And it just had to be their goddamn posterchild who'd somehow gotten himself knocked out. Which left the symbol of human will vulnerable.

Fantastic.

"Captain… read me? We need… Ichigo needs to get off-world before…"

"Sorry sir, the message is breaking up. I can try to get it back but it might be a while." Amina said.

"Do it." Anderson said, tone hard and all but demanding that his command be met without fail.

He turned to look at Hackett, expecting him to share his dread, to Anderson's surprise he looked thoughtful for a moment. What could be going through that man's mind right now that he didn't immediately think that this could possibly get any worse?

"So Ichigo is wounded and unconscious." Hackett said, raising an eyebrow. "Any idea how that happened?"

"Probably the fifty megaton nuke that went off in the upper atmosphere." Anderson didn't dare even think about the physics of it all- it was the techs jobs to deal with that math disaster.

Hackett looked vaguely disturbed at the implications for a moment before nodding. The boy had brushed off over a hundred kilotons of concentrated energy being shot at him without any real effort, so it wasn't impossible he'd survived the blast. Still, that was several hundred times more powerful than the massive Geth Dreadnaught's punch. If that was what it took to seriously hurt, not even kill, them, then the most powerful Dreadnaughts in the galaxy wouldn't be able to do any damage to the anomalies. Their most powerful guns could only dish out thirty kilotons or so.

"Admiral, we need to get a shuttle down there and get the boy off-world..." Anderson started, but stopped when Hackett raised a hand for silence.

For a minute he stayed silent and continued to think on the matter, eyes roaming and lips muttering half-formed thoughts. He seemed to have made up his mind, turning and regarding the screen and Anderson with all his attention.

"Do not do anything. Stick to repairing your ships and waiting for the Council Fleet to arrive." Hackett replied, much to Anderson's shock. What could the Admiral have planned that he'd give such a command? Before he could ask that very question, the Admiral made to ask one of his own.

"Tell me Captain, what do you think the Council will do when they learn Ichigo is below, unconscious and unable to leave or fight back?"

Anderson didn't know where the man was going with this. Maybe he had a plan to either get Ichigo out of this, or maybe there was something he was missing entirely.

"They will capture him and likely lock him up somewhere."

"Exactly." Hackett replied. "Get what evidence you can for this, contact Mikkai and tell him to get recordings of that happening."

Anderson had no idea what was going on, and, like before, he found himself perplexed by the Admiral's ability to remain so calm. No, calm was the wrong word, right now the man looked ecstatic. But, wasn't that the worst possible thing that could happen for them?

"I have a plan that might just get us what we want after all." Hackett said slowly, smirking in a manner that was unbecoming of an officer of the Alliance Navy.

He looked positively vindictive.

* * *

 _Pishon_

Shepard stepped inside the medical station and let out a sigh, glad her moment in the spotlight was over with. Now that she'd preoccupied the soldiers, no one was asking any difficult questions anymore, giving her a chance to breath. Her orders were being carried out with the upmost efficiency and detachments had been sent out to search the nearby colonies for survivors and survey the damage. The remaining forces here shored up the defenses in case any Geth were left, and also to keep the area secured and a designated landing zone.

In the corner she could see Mikkai speaking with someone and ignored it, instead checking back on their prisoner. Someone had been far too generous and given the Spectre a thin cot they'd jammed into the corner of the room where he laid, still unconscious. Shepard personally hoped whatever meds the doctors had given him to keep him sedated had one hell of a kickback when he woke.

'Speaking of treatment.' Shepard thought, turning and looking to the man of the hour.

Ichigo was still limp on a bed, most of his surprisingly intact clothing having been removed, aside from the loose pants. The doctors had finally stopped trying to figure out his blood and finished cleaning him up, revealing a healthy, lean, and otherwise completely normal, if not very fit, human body. He was practically already completely healed aside from a gash or two, though the doctors had said something about internal injuries. Shepard herself had spent a long moment staring at him, trying to figure out why she felt as if something were missing before she realized it: he had absolutely no scars, not even any from the explosion. She'd even turned over the hand she remembered blocking the Dreadnaught's attack only to see unmarked skin.

"Hey doc, how is the patient?" Shepard asked, strolling over and looking down at the calm face of the young man. Eerily calm too, considering all he'd just been through.

Well, except for the way she could see his eyes darting around under his lids. "Is he dreaming?"

"I have no fucking idea, we need a goddamn Quantum Physicist or someone that knowns meta-physics or some shit. I have no fucking idea what I am looking at right now!" The Medic growled, shaking his head and looking as if he was about to burst a blood vessel.

Shepard would have laughed at the dramatic reaction if she didn't know just how much they needed to keep the doctor's head cool and focused. "Whoa, calm down, we already got enough people who need medical attention. Don't lose your head. What did you even find out about him?"

"That he shouldn't even exist, much less look so human." The Doctor, name emblazoned on his right breast as Barnard, shot back. Seeing Shepard's completely lost expression, he sighed, calmed himself, and began: "I am sure you know that the body is made up of multiple compounds, correct?"

Shepard gave him an unamused look; she wasn't a doctor but she knew what he was talking about. It was part of her very basic medical training: there were six main components that made up the human body - oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus – along with five elements in smaller quantities – potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. There were a whole lot of trace elements that she hadn't been forced to memorize, but she assumed that she knew the basics well enough.

"Right… you're not stupid, sorry." Barnard said, before he brought up his Omni-tool and showed her the image on a datapad.

Shepard looked it over, and, while she wasn't a doctor or biologist by any stretch of the imagination, she instantly noticed just how terribly off the scan looked. Usually the image was highly detailed and varied, highlighting separate aspects of the body with different colors. It was an invaluable tool for a doctor to have, giving them an instant picture of a person's body, both inside and out. It let them quickly look over areas for trauma, investigating bones for fractures, muscles for tears, internal organs for any damage or bruising, any aspect of their patient they needed to see was at their fingertips, even the different layers of skin and intricacies of the nerves system.

"Why is it all blue?" Shepard asked plainly. That didn't mean what she thought it did, right?

"This guy right here," Barnard pointed almost accusingly at Ichigo, "is defying everything we've learned about the nature of life just by existing! His entire body is composed of a single type of molecule, one hundred percent of whatever the hell this is."

"But how does that work?" Shepard asked, trying to wrap her mind around what that even meant.

How was his skeleton not as fragile as his hair and his joints not too stiff or brittle? It went against all rules of biology, heck it went against simple common sense for his entire being to be built from a single element and yet having all the diverse characteristics of being organic, of looking so very human. He bled, his skin was smooth, his hair wild and spiky, and his lips even looked a little chapped while his hands had callouses. How could that much detail exist without most of what made a human a living creature?

"My guess is that he is only making himself look human." Barnard replied with a shrug, not having anything but his intuition to go off of without more tests. "Most of what we're seeing now is actually energy given the shape we see by the atoms keeping together in a particular way. But that isn't even the real kicker."

Barnard turned and picked up a clean piece of cloth, showing it to Shepard who raised a brow. He turned and cleaned one of the few oozing injuries left. "He releases some kind of field that serves to keeps his body from doing what it _should_ and dissipating and disappearing from sight. He, quite literally, he exists on a separate dimensional plane that shouldn't interact with our own like this if he wasn't forcing it." The doctor shrugged. "I've heard some theories on these guys possibly being from a higher dimensional plane than us, possibly Fifth Dimensional Space. I thought it was all bunk before, but now?"

Shepard had no idea what he was talking about and didn't have any interest in a damn science lecture, so she ignored his ramblings and opted to look at the scans again. Even with her limited knowledge she found it incredibly strange his body worked this way, so she could only imagine the frustration someone actually trained to understand these things felt. Looking closer at the scan, she found an oddly discolored patch on his chest. There was no indication it actually meant anything, unable to be read, but her gut told her it was important. It probably had something to do with how the patch sat right where his heart was, practically entwined with the area. It looked almost like…

"Is there something odd about his blood?" Shepard asked.

"I see you've noticed. His blood is actually where most of his power is." Barnard said, bringing his Omni-tool forward and scanning the smeared blood on the rag seconds before it finished dissipating.

The readings were off the charts and practically unbelievable. No, it really was unbelievable even after everything Shepard had seen; his blood gave off enough residual energy to power an Alliance Cruiser for a good ten years. It wasn't even as if that were all his power, just a patch on some cloth, and if all his blood had that much power, then the sheer amount flowing through him was staggering.

It suddenly made a whole lot more sense as to how he survived the nuke. He had enough energy flowing just under his skin that it was like an unstoppable force meeting the immovable object. And clearly he had won.

"No wonder he survived that nuke." Shepard thought. "This guy says he isn't a god, but this seems pretty godly to me."

"You've got that right." Mikkai announced, strolling up and peering down at Ichigo. "Fifty megatons and he only gets knocked on his ass for it. He also blew apart a mountain coming down, tough son of a bitch."

Shepard shook her head in exasperation at Mikkai's blunt but effective way to framing things. Ichigo surprised everyone each time he appeared, shattering their expectations without even trying. But, if what the doctor said held true, then their brief scans were proof the anomalies were higher dimensional beings, or at least something completely beyond life itself.

"So, what do…?" Shepard started, before she got a message over the coms.

"Lieutenant! We got shuttles coming down, a lot of them!" Rochelle shouted from the doorway, confusion clear on his face.

It wasn't their support.

"Geth?" Shepard asked.

"No, Council ships, Turian and Salarian." Rochelle replied, "a whole lot of them."

Shepard turned to Mikkai, who seemed a little too calm right now. Well, if the venomous stare could be considered calm just because he hadn't flown into a blind rage. Ignoring it, she moved for the door and stormed outside, finding the marines and N6's all watching with almost morbid silence as a fleet of shuttles drop down and began to unload troops. Mikkai strolled forward until he was in front of the shuttle that had deposited a single Salarian and a team of rough-looking Turians. It didn't take a genius to realize that the little group that's touched down in their yard was Blackwatch, a team dedicated to responding to anomaly activity.

Shepard tensed. How the hell did they know that Ichigo was here?

Mikkai, however, was cool and icily confident, practically stalking up to the Salarian STG officer and, very nearly growled in his face, "Why the hell are you here?"

The Blackwatch members moved forward threatening, but the Salarian dismissed them with a wave of his hand. He looked around the colony, disinterested and hardly bothering to look at Mikkai. "I am Captain Enarth Paeyor, Special Task Group, we are here to access the damage, but I want to know where two things are. The first is the Prothean Beacon and the second is Saren Arterus. If you would?"

It wasn't a request.

"The Beacon was destroyed; it collapsed along with the entire Space Port after a nuclear warhead went off. A warhead your Spectre friend brought with him to demolish this colony." Mikkai replied, teeth clenched and muscled tightening.

"We are aware of the accusations and will deal with them later, along with any evidence you may have on the matter." Captain Enarth replied, before he waved his hand towards his two guards and then the building.

"Is that where he is being held?" The STG officer asked, looking to Mikkai.

Mikkai glared silently back, brushing off Enarth's returning look of contempt. When it was clear the human wouldn't be of any help to him, Enarth ignored him entirely and waved his troops along, destination clear. Shepard was seconds away from physically barricading Blackwatch's path when Mikkai caught her eye and shook his head.

Don't.

Shepard was torn between trusting her commanding officer and protecting the injured guardian, stuck in a hellish war of her mind and heart. The two Turian agents brushed past her and the pang she felt compelling her to rush forward and stop them from reporting reached a fevered pitch and nearly ripped her control away. But the choice was taken from her when the Salarian's head tilted into his earpiece. His calm exterior shattered violently and he practically threw himself forward, throwing open the door and disappearing inside.

It was silent for a disturbingly long time in which more Blackwatch and Turian military moved in, the gathered human troops watching distantly from the side. Shepard felt the small hope she had that Ichigo would suddenly awaken and flee slowly die in her chest when there was no sudden outcry or explosion, but only Enarth strutting back through the doors, looking unreasonably pleased with himself.

It wasn't exactly a surprise when two gurneys were wheeled out behind him, one with the still unconscious Saren Arterus and the other with Ichigo. It didn't stop Shepard from bristling, nor the Alliance marines from exploding into an uproar.

"Where are you taking him?" Mikkai asked, not bothering to specify.

"Somewhere that he can be contained." Enarth replied. "Under Council authority he is being detained and held to be questioned, along with all personnel on this colony with him."

"Not happening!" Someone yelled, and then guns were aimed and ready with frightening speed.

If Shepard wasn't so pissed off, she would have laughed almost hysterically at the sight. It was a goddamn Mexican standoff right now, no less than fifty guns pointed at the Salarian's head.

"Stand down immediately! By order of the Council you will cease and desist, all of you will be questioned and processed! If you resist, lethal force will be used." Enarth said, sounding as if he were reading from a script as he drew his own weapon and boldly pointed it at Mikkai. "We have him now, it is over. We take him and finally figure out who they are. Now stand down or you will just another name they put on the plaque of who died on this colony."

Mikkai looked at the Salarian for a moment before he raised his hand.

"Stand down! Let them go." Mikkai grumbled out the order. "We can't do anything, just clench your teeth and take it as best you can."

The STG Agent seemed to nod his head and motioned forward, ignoring the guns still tracking his head. One by one, the marines lowered their weapons as he passed, some going so far as to throw them aside in frustration. Turian Blackwatch soldiers moved in, disarming everyone before beginning to move them off to be interrogated. Mikkai watched as all those men and woman that got burnt down here and felt his bone in his clenched fist creak.

No, they were _not_ going to get burnt by the Turian military for trying to stop them. "I want to speak with Captain Anderson. I won't be taking no for an answer."

"Do not worry. You, along with most of your team, will be joining Anderson on a trip to the Citadel." Enarth replied. "So I advise you make your little trip quick, because you won't be seeing Alliance space for a long while."

Mikkai let him move on, certain that the STG officer was pleased with himself all the same. He could see the Salarian already trying to figure out the best way to spin what had to be the biggest success of his life, the best way to lord it over those he met for the rest of his life. Mikkai snorted in disgust at the thought, but turned and followed anyway, since they were his only transportation currently.

But, as Mikkai stepped into the shuttle, he heard the Salarian give one final command to his assistant

"Contact the Council, tell them to get the Cage read. We finally have someone to put in it."

* * *

Ichigo walked through the streets, passing by the high buildings that lined the wide street. It wasn't what his Inner World typically looked like, but, well, his world wasn't exactly typical at the moment. The shining walls and skies played flickering images across them, distorting the shapes and being an absolute mess to try and make sense of.

'The hell is this?' Ichigo mused at a particularly strange image flashed by. He'd been dealing with the strange flashes of not-memory for over an hour now and he'd yet to make any sense of it.

He'd woke up after being basically dragged in by the scruff of his neck by the sheer chaos of his Inner World as something did its damndest to work its way into his mind. He'd managed to calm it somehow, if only just barely. Any sagely advice he'd hope to get on what the heck was happening was absent along with the Old Man and his Hollow. He'd had the creeping suspicion that the damn vision he had just crammed into his mind had something to do with that. But that wasn't half as disturbing as the fact that he could see and feel everything in the scattered memories as if they were his own. No, not just someone, an entire people and all the suffering and pain they endured at the hands of whatever had hurt them.

He wasn't exactly sure what he'd seen except for a few flashes of images and color, easily the most distinct being more of the oversized ship he'd just taken out. A ship that War had somehow hijacked, apparently it being in pieces didn't even slow the bastard, and altered to hurt him and open his defense up just in time to get literally nuked. He'd wondered if they'd somehow been related, but he doubted it. There had been no references of these massive ships being in the Horsemen's arsenal, so War had to have just gotten lucky. Of course, the idea of there being yet another party to deal with was a headache.

Ichigo turned back to the memories and caught sight of something flat-headed, four-eyed and obviously not very human. "Wonder who these guys are anyway."

They looked weird. Was that racists? Specieiest? He didn't know.

"Ichigo."

The ever-stoic voice of the Quincy aspect of his powers called out. Ichigo immediately looked up and quickly spotted him standing on the ledge of a one of the taller buildings. Taking his que, Ichigo leaped up and onto the edge of the building, making himself at hope beside the old man. His hollow half was a little ways back and, for once, not trying to goad Ichigo into a fight. No, instead the pale copy stood, hands on hips and peering down at something at his feet: a disturbing looking black mass. The Hollow barely glanced at Ichigo looking like he was contemplating kicking the…thing just to see what happened. Or try stabbing it, really, the two actions were practically interchangeable with the Hollow.

Before his Inner Hollow poked the obviously suspicious mass and likely got them all killed, Ichigo made his way over with a sigh. Great, yet another strange thing to deal with, "What do we got?"

"Fuck knows, but this messed up shit isn't even the weirdest thing." Zangetsu replied, his usual sarcastic smirk and leer was gone and replaced with an annoyed frown. At least he hadn't lost his vulgar mouth or else Ichigo would have been more worried. "It looks like the memories are trying to build something."

Spoke too soon. That sounded really bad.

"The correct term would be manifest, but these memories and emotions are having difficulty doing so." The Old Man said, stepping forward and glancing down into the dark pit that had formed. "It appears to be using you to manifest something. A warning, perhaps."

"I kind of figured that out from all the images of death and mayhem I keep seeing." Ichigo replied, letting out a sigh. "That ship was a part of it all, somehow. Do we have any idea what this might be about?"

Both spirits shrugged, without any idea what they were seeing. They'd dealt with many different and even outright bizarre situations, but this was outside even their territory. They also had the approximant refined control of a bulldozer trying to move expensive china, couple that with no frame of reference and there was nothing they could do on their own. They needed to find someone who could help them with this, and maybe make sense of what the hell that strange beacon did.

But for now…

"Alright, so who's up for a little exploring?" Ichigo asked, taking a step towards the edge and getting ready to leap into the dark unknown.

* * *

 **This is it, the last chapter for the next few weeks. Truly I am sorry that I have to drop off the map like this but I am just so overwhelmed with things that it is not funny, I am stressed out and life is not doing me any favours at the moment.**

 **My mind is all over the place and I just cannot focus on anything enough to write. Hell these edits took me a week to do, when it usually takes me a night for each story I get.**

 **So please enjoy my works as I sort out my life and also get my account set up and all my other accounts as well. I have a damn long way to go.**

 **Also to let you all know the next chapter will delve into the political side of this story and actually show you what other races think and feel about the Anomalies and the treatment of Humanity.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello all, I bring this to you from the Explorer of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean ship that Is currently leaving dock and heading out into the ocean. Finally on my holiday, so happy.**

 **Now! This chapter has been a long time coming and I am sorry that it couldn't have come out sooner but what can I say? I am slow with getting things done. Should have been out weeks ago at least. But I procrastinate a lot so it cannot be helped.**

 **But here it is. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Are We Alone**

 **Chapter 11: Political Shitstorm**

 _Serpent Nebula, TSF Drusculus_

It reminded Shepard of Elysium, right after the Blitz, when the days had drifted by in a red-tape haze. She'd been injured, or suffering from the lingering effects of blood loss, so everything had blurred together until the very end, but now she was in perfect health to experience all the waiting in its gloriously lethargic agony. With little else to do but sit and wait between interrogations, she couldn't help but sneer at just how similar it all was to the last time. The days spent in isolation with nothing to do but twiddle her thumbs as she waited and wondered if today was when she'd finally get to speak with her superior officer. All the while she'd be randomly visited by her own government's spooks and high-ranking officers who'd try to pull what information out of her they could.

It had only been sixteen hours, but already she could feel her nerves grinding into nothing.

"How the hell can they hold us like this? Why did the Admiral give us to these bastards?" Ashley Williams asked, breaching the stretching silence with something other than her nervous pacing.

One thing that was different from what Shepard remembered was that she wasn't alone this time. She should have had the company needed to stave off the boredom with idle, pointless, chatter, and yet the room had been practically silent for most of the time. She, unlike Ashley, had little desire to talk, leaving the other woman to ramble angrily, trying to sort out her cluttered and conflicting thoughts.

"Hackett didn't even do anything, and neither did Anderson! I thought that we were going to use this to get back at the Council, not…not this." Ashley continued.

"Maybe you should keep your voice down, incriminating yourself isn't going to do us any good." Shepard snapped, tired yet unable to really let herself sleep. "But I hear you, things are turning out shit for us."

Shepard had an idea on what this all meant for the System Alliance, and none of it was particularly good. The original plan to secure the Beacon and use it as a bargaining chip had failed. But not because of the attack. No, if anything, the Eden Prime assault would have been practically a god send, if you were heartless enough to ignore the horrific loss of life. And with that attack the Alliance would be up in arms, fire fueled by the incrimination of such a famous Spectre in a beautiful clusterfuck that would turn the Council's reputation to ashes. Withdrawal from Alliance Space would be practically a given, and Shepard wouldn't have been surprised if the Councilors were dismissed before the protestor's signs had even finished drying.

But now they would cover it up, knowing that if anything that took place on Eden Prime got out there would be hell to pay. They would need to silence everyone and ensure all elements were kept quiet and even imprisoned to keep the people at large unaware of the Council's massive screw-ups. Shepard knew they had to have done this before, even if the evidence had been quietly swept away. Just how many worlds had been attacked by Raiders in the past two years alone? How many uprisings have they been forced to put down? How many anti-Council groups were forming, only to be crushed before they could grow?

"We're not getting out of this are we?" Ashley asked.

"Not likely. We're probably going to get the same treatment as Ines got when they court-martialed him." Shepard said. "The only difference here is that they won't do it publicly. They'll throw up some charges and see to it that we're locked up."

"They can't get away with this." Ashley growled. "People will know."

"Yeah, and then they go after them." Shepard replied, feeling suddenly extremely blasé to the whole situation.

Shepard had had little else to do but think for the past sixteen hours, and she had figured a few things out. She knew that the Council was on thin ice, with humanity dancing on that very same sheet, in some twisted high-stakes game of chicken with the entire stability of the alliance as the prize. The trade embargo, lack of military control, and even outright occupation on some worlds, humanity's opinion on the Council was disastrously low. It was so bat that the colonies and Earth itself were silently rebelling against the Council and their demands, growing a bit bolder as they had a bit less to lose with each day.

Groups like Terra Firma were growing alarmingly fast, and certain religions were praying for the 'Gods' to come and punish their oppressors. She wanted them to swoop in and do it too, but now one of their 'Gods' was being carted off somewhere to likely be interrogated, if not outright experimented on.

Eden Prime was meant to be the spark that ignited the powder keg underneath everyone's feet; Piss everyone off so much that they either revolt against their current government or forced their leaders to make the hard choice. Everyone was either fed up with it or afraid for the future, and they deserved to have their worlds back and be freed from the rules and regulations placed on them. They deserved to be free.

"I can't believe it's not going to end." Shepard moaned, how much she wanted the Council out and finally to be able to live it up as a N7.

Now she likely was going to lose her stripe. All she had to do now was wait for the executioner to come for her head along with everyone else's.

On cue the doorway opened, the bright light outside showing nothing but the morbid shadow of an individual. Not unlike the executioner she had thought of a moment ago, yet when he stepped forward and into the room it was actually a much friendlier face. Well, relatively speaking, considering the seemingly permanent scowl that had made its home on Captain Anderson's face.

Hands folded behind his back and looking expectantly at both the Lieutenant and Gunnery Sergeant, the stood as tall as usual. Even when they were about to be sent down the river Styx, he did not seem to lose any of his strength, his head high and his eyes betraying nothing but cold authority.

"Come on you two, we will reach the Citadel in a few minutes." Anderson said, turning on his heels and moving back to the door.

Shepard all but leapt off her cot and moved for the door with barely contained anticipation. These Turian bunks were uncomfortable and spartan, and she hated being stuck in these cramped quarters. Even having a view of the cold, unfeeling void of space would brighten up the sterile room.

As she exited the room she found another already waiting for her, her unit commander, Major Mikkai. He was standing beside Anderson, while ahead of them were three Blackwatch Officers. She looked at their stripes, and, if she had to guess, they looked to be either Sergeants or Captains in the Turian military. That was interesting, they were being guarded by high ranking officers.

"Captain, where are we going?" Ashley asked, stepping out the holding cell with a bit more trepidation.

"Down to the shuttle bay; they're dropping us off on the Citadel directly. They're also taking our other guest somewhere else." Anderson replied, voice unnervingly neutral at the grave news.

It didn't need to be said exactly who they were referring to, apart from Shepard, her team, and the Captain, only one other person was on this ship if their 'escorts' were excluded. The Guardian of Elysium, Ichigo.

Considering the fact that the Blackwatch officers were so calm, it was safe to assume that the battered hero was still unconscious. Otherwise she was sure that he would have made his exit with all the subtlety that a nearly six-foot man with an equally large sword could. But even then, the Turians were too calm, not at all worried that their captive might suddenly wake and obliterate them literally by existing. It had only been a passing remark, but Shepard remembered a Turian Blackwatch officer saying something about the 'Cage', whatever that meant beyond the obvious. Shepard, if she had less self-preservation instincts, would have wished she could be there to see Ichigo wake up. Anything that could shake off a Dreadnaught-busting weapon wasn't something that could be contained so easily.

But the Blackwatch officers probably hadn't heard, or thought it was a delusion created by zealous humans.

"Where is the rest of the team?" Shepard asked.

"Going down in different shuttles, they don't want us talking." Mikkai replied.

Their captors probably thought they would try to corroborate stories and try to make an organized argument. But the Council likely didn't want to even give them the time to build a case. Meaning that they were going to snowball them and lock their asses up, the same treatment they gave Ines. Only this time she suspected they wouldn't be so public about it, or nearly as legal.

"So from there it's the slow walk to the gallows?" Shepard quipped cynically.

"No, you and Mikkai will be coming with me." Anderson replied, giving Ashley an apologetic look. "Gunnery Sergeant Williams will be confined to quarters in the embassy. But you will be coming with me to meet the Ambassador."

Shepard was surprised that there was still an embassy on the Citadel. From what she heard, the Council, and a lot of other equally angry people, had wanted them booted off the station because of the Anomalies. Most of the aliens were (rightfully) scared shitless of the anomalies and what they represented, as far as she was aware. And so, unsurprisingly, there had been a lot of attacks on humans and the embassy over the last few years since Torfan. But the chaos had spilled over to any human sympathizers as well, and the tensions were starting to tear the Citadel apart at the seams. Of course, Shepard had only heard all this second-hand at best, so it was unclear what the actual situation was.

As they passed through the door, Shepard took note of the dozens of smaller attack fighters and shuttles scattered all over the place. Engineers and technicians moved to and fro, prepping the ships and giving general maintenance. It was expected that there were so many ships were present, the Drusculus was a Carrier and meant to field large numbers of fighters. Descending onto the main launch floor they moved for a shuttle, and boarded it without a single word.

Shepard composed herself, sitting in her seat and not moving a muscle as they waited to reach the Citadel. Anderson maintained his perfect composure, and Major Mikkai was doing his best impression of a brick wall, but Ashley was fidgeting and twitching all over the place. Something she continued to do for the next twenty minutes before they finally docked with the station.

It wasn't until they finally departed the shuttle that they got a glimpse of the Citadel. The massive docking arms of the space station were monolithic, reaching into space like the claws of a giant. There were hundreds of ships moving around the station, peppering the sky like tiny comet. It was a wonder how so many ships could move on and off the station without collisions, even with the boon of personal navigators.

But when she looked down and below the docking arm their shuttle had landed on she found a city beneath, an actual city with skyscrapers, factories and massive unit blocks. It was a sight that she was not given a chance to admire at its fullest, instead she was pushed forward by the Blackwatch grunts and towards the elevator.

From there it was routine scans, security checks and finally the skycab transport directly to the Embassy.

The entire affair took half an hour at most. It was so boring and uneventful that even the erratic Ashley seemed to lose her energy, coming to terms that her fate was out of her hands until further notice. It was a misleadingly peaceful event.

But as soon as they landed, they got a show.

"What the hell?" Ashley muttered.

In front of the embassy was a large crowd, picketing it, with a cacophony of yelling and calling out for blood. Turians and Asari seemed to be the main opposition present, but a few other races dotted the crowed. All of them were tossing food and bottles towards the building, the guards just shy of being overwhelmed and barely able to the people from charging.

"The hell is this?" Shepard asked.

"Dammit. This is Lieutenant Fraklus, we got another protestor group in front of the Embassy." The Blackwatch officer said into his comm, clearly annoyed. "Which one do you think!? Get some C-Sec guards over here and clear them out, we don't need this right now!"

"Looks like they're riled up again, wonder what set them off this time." Anderson said, sighing as he started towards the lobby.

Shepard had to keep her head down, food and bottles were flying as much as curses from the crowd. She had never seen anything like this before, probably because she had never been on any world outside of Alliance Space or anywhere with an alien population. But considering how the last few years have been for humanity, she had not seen another alien for just as long. In fact, Saren was the first Turian she had seen in at least three years.

"What the hell is going on?" Ashley asked, rushing into the lobby and looking back at the agitated crowd.

"Things on the Citadel have deteriorated as of late." Anderson replied as if that explained everything. "Anita and Udina can explain, let's go."

A short walk up the stairs and they entered the office. The sudden silence when the doors shut behind them was jarring. But what followed was just as loud and bloodcurdling as the angry crowd outside this very building.

"I don't believe this, you're not taking this seriously!" Anita barked, standing in front of a holographic display of an Asari.

"The Council doesn't feel that…" The Asari tried to speak, but Anita wouldn't have it.

"If the Council has a problem they can grow a pair and speak to me, I am not exchanging messages with them through another go-between. So you tell those bastards if they think they can bury what happened on Eden Prime, they have another thing coming! And use my exact fucking words for once." Anita said, kicking the projector to shut it off. It would have been funny if Shepard hadn't known exactly what she had been referring to.

The woman turned and let out a barely contained shout of indignation, slumping against the nearby table. Next to her another man sagged, dark face world-weary with deep lines and heavy bags under his eyes, hair greying and receding. A series of hastily-applied bandages covered part of his face.

"Told you they wouldn't listen, you should have gone to Earth when you had the chance, now you're stuck here with me." Udina said, looking tired as he folded his arms. "Forced retirement would be the best you could hope for."

"Yeah… yeah, I should have done that." Anita said, running both hands through her hair as she tried to reign in her emotions.

It was only then that she turned and finally noticed that someone had entered the room.

* * *

Anita wanted to slam her head against the wall until she didn't feel anything anymore; unconsciousness or death would at least be a reprieve from all this. From the Council lording over them, forcing herself and Udina to handle the angry crowds and delivering only news of changes in regulations, and bearing bad news on behalf of the Council. That was what they had been reduced to, to being errand boys that gave the Alliance Parliament pieces of bad news, one after another. It was all they could ever call for, no other communications were allowed back to Earth unless it was properly sanctioned. Even communications to other colonies was closed off, and she hadn't seen or heard from her son on Intai'sei for eight months. That remote colony was somewhere she had hoped to settle down and retire, and now she couldn't even make a phone call to it.

She should have retired when she had the chance.

"Anderson, good to see you again." Anita said, forcing a smile and hoping she didn't look as tired as she felt. "Why can't we have more social calls these days?"

"Sad to say, but the Council doesn't like us having such luxuries." Anderson replied.

Anita wanted to laugh helplessly at that, but was conflicted if laughing was the right thing to do instead of growling. But she was so tired of being angry so instead she pulled a face and dropped the subject all together. "The Council just called. If you aren't aware, they will be arranging a meeting with you. You are going to need some help when you get up there."

"I need your help actually." Anderson replied.

Anita sighed at that, there was absolutely nothing she could do.

"Sadly, help is something humanity needs in spades, and yet we have little in way of power to do anything. Especially now." Udina sighed, massaging his temple and wincing as he rubbed a little too close to the bandage.

"I assume you got that from the crowd, what set them off?" Anderson asked.

"Yes, it was someone with a bottle and particularly good aim. Don't worry about me, it's not life threatening." Udina explained, glad the others in the room hardly looked fazed, just disgusted at the act. "Tensions are rising every day, so humans and the Council races are not on the best terms as of late. It's spilling out onto the streets and innocent people are getting caught up in the fighting. Barely anywhere is safe for humans, and it's depressingly common to see human-run shops vandalized or looted. The only exception I know of is some sort of novelty store, and I'm sure that's only because one of the employees is practically the size of a Krogan and the owner is reported to be...off-putting." Udina, finished rambling, turned and strolled over to the balcony.

The rest followed, looking down and over the long halls of the Presidium. It had once been somewhere that had been a calm and tranquil place where ideas and negotiations were held. Instead, it had been turned into a pristine dump where people couldn't walk without fear of being caught up in the fighting between humans and the other races. Things had settled in the streets for the most part, but only because humans rarely showed their faces so freely. There were even reports of targeted attacks, people seriously injured and sometimes even killed by mobs of angry protestors.

It was the visibly worst here, but that didn't mean all over the Citadel it wasn't just as bad.

"I take it everyone here is against us then?"

Anita looked towards the speaker, a fair skinned N7 Major she had heard about. Mikkai, if she recalled, though for the life of her she couldn't remember a first name. He had a scowl on his face that stretched the numerous scars across his cheek and brow, and with his short-cropped hair that was beginning to go grey showed him to be a long serving soldier.

"Not everyone, oddly enough there are some groups that are for us and even against the Council. Not as numerous but they are certainly making a scene, or at least trying to prevent the worst from happening." Anita replied.

While the Alliance was getting a lot of crap from all sides, they were not the only ones to suffer. What goes around eventually comes back, and the Council was getting nearly as much as they were dishing out. Several groups and small organizations were openly protesting the Council and their treatment of the human race. Many felt that the sanctions were destabilizing the economy and restricting their businesses, resulting in some notable corporate collapses in the last few years. But economical health was not the only case that was being put against the Council. From a political and social standpoint, the Council had far overstepped their bounds and were the ones in the wrong.

Politically, they were policing the Alliance to a nearly unprecedented degree, restricting a race's own laws to suite their desires for near five years now. The Council was the most powerful governing body in Citadel Space, yes, but they each worked as a conglomerate to help settle disputes between the governments aligned with the Citadel. If there was a problem in their own governments it would be settled, or if one of their associated members such as the Volus, Hanar, or Humans did something to spite the other, they would step in to quell the problem.

But what they did here was beyond that, practically a hostile takeover of another species' government, military, and control over their own space. They were not above doing things that put other species in line, with the Krogans and Quarians a testament to their willingness to put down any threats they see coming or punish the future for the sake of the past. With humans, however, they had overstepped themselves, knowing that with human's expansive nature and their unwillingness to bend, they had to force compliance. It was forcing it that had been the problem, even if they had gotten away with it for the most part, the question was simply when, not if, something would give.

"The Asari Republic and Salarian Union are not happy. I got word that there is division amongst the people about how to handle the System Alliance. Some are afraid of eventual backlash if they keep this occupation going." Anita informed.

"They don't like it when it is called an occupation, it makes them out to be tyrants." Udina said.

"Go figure." Mikkai muttered.

"There is pressure from their Governments to settle this quickly, not only the occupation but also finding a way to get out of this without too much damage." Anita replied.

But she knew for a fact that the damage was already done, that the Alliance had been preparing to leave the Council for over a year now. The parliament may not have done anything to show it, but other have, all major companies that dealt in trading technology and resources have been shipping them into the Traverse and Terminus Systems. Almost all trade with the Council had already ceased, or would in the next few months.

That had been a major strain on their resources, to find new partners to trade in the unlawful reaches of the Terminus System was a nightmare. They had done it, but in turn the Council had been making their life difficult. That wasn't even counting the civil unrest and racial tensions that were rising because of the Council's actions, it was making them look bad. In the eyes of humanity and their own species, they wanted to fix things before they ruined everything.

"The damage is already done. Nothing can change that now, and once word gets out it will be even worse." Anderson replied. "I think that the Alliance will finally do what it has been wanting to do for the last five years."

Anita would actually like that, to finally have that heel off their throats, but…"I don't think it's going to happen I am afraid."

"But the Council can't hide something like this, too many people know." Gunnery Sergeant Williams shot back, clearly agitated.

Anita knew the Gunnery Sergeant was annoyed at the lack of optimism in the room. But she had been here for years now and knew for a fact that all your dreams were never going to really come true, because as long as the Council still held power, the human race was never going to be free.

"You wouldn't believe how well they can spin things, how smart they are at turning a tragedy over to benefit them." Anita said. "The only reason they're being so cautious is because they were too hasty in taking over our space, almost appearing as if they were invading. That was their first mistake, and it's still is causing them grief now."

"They approved releasing a genocidal virus onto one species and left another that was nearly massacred to rot on ships and let them turn into pariahs to everyone else in the galaxy. Tell me, if the Krogan and Quarians aren't going to get any sympathy, what do you think we're going to get?" Udina explained, clinical and cold.

"So we're second class citizens then?" Mikkai asked.

"Second-class citizens are discriminated against, we're no better than slaves in this case. No right to govern ourselves, or at least pretend to." Udina replied. "All because Prime Minister Amul Shastri signed away our rights."

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked. "I thought you said the Council overstepped themselves?"

"The Council couldn't have entered our space with such a force and make these sanctions and restrictions without having some political control given. Not without outright declaring war. As a member of the Council we are bound by the Council Conventions that restrict certain governments and also allow the Council to actually have certain legal and legislative rights in member governments." Anita explained, but when she saw the lack of understanding she clarified it in more simple terms. "They have a backdoor into our Parliament, meaning they can impose restrictions on trade, military operations, and colony expansion if necessary. This is how they were able to halt us from attacking Torfan for over a year, it is also why we can't form colonies anywhere but near the borders of the traverse."

She seemed to understand now.

"But they couldn't disband our military, they couldn't do what they are doing now." Shepard continued cautiously.

"Not unless the Alliance Parliament signs away these rights." Udina finished. "Amul Shastri complied with the Council's demands for them to ground the Alliance Fleets and suspend the Admirals until the Council could investigate claims of secrecy and treason."

"Treason? But didn't they know that Admiral Ines was hiding information on the anomalies?"

"No, they didn't. Ines had kept this information close to the chest at the time and out of the hands of most of the government because he knew it would lead to leaks and then the Council finding out." Anita stated. "Amul had no real idea what he was sighing over, as the evidence presented showed Ines was hiding military secrets and was collaborating with the other Admirals."

"Amul and his cabinet were afraid of a possible war breaking out, that the Fleets might be attempting an illegal expansion or attack and obeyed. By grounding the Fleets, the Council could swoop in and take control without anyone firing a shot, from there they laid the groundwork for the control we see today." Udina finished.

That is how it had been done, the Council imposed these restrictions and sanctions to the full extent of their authority. But now they were imposing military control over territory that they had no rights to hold, and imposing restrictions that were destabilizing the Alliance.

"But they can't… how can they still have control? It has been five years and they are still lording over us." Shepard said, looking ready to tear her own hair out.

"Because of the anomalies, they are using them as pretense to maintain military control over Alliance Space and keep humanity from expanding." Anita said, "Humanity has always been feared because of how quickly we expanded and made ourselves a prominent galactic figure. It may seem like common sense to grow strong to us, but to the other races, we're a pretty scary force sometimes."

"The anomalies aren't human."

"The Council doesn't believe that." Anita replied, and right now that was all that mattered.

What the Council thought.

"So that's it? We're fucked with no way out?" Shepard asked.

Anita wanted to say no, there was a plan to save their asses and get them out of the fire. But there wasn't anything they could do, not out here, not this far away from Earth and their own government. Not like it would have mattered anyway.

"I can't believe this, we're going to lose everything." Shepard said, the look of defeat finally settling over her. "We had it all, the Beacon and a way to get the Council off us. Even when we were attacked, we still have leverage against them with a rogue Spectre, and we still had the Beacon. Now it's all going to be covered up."

"Worse, Hackett is being called in and he'll be put on trial." Udina said. "I don't know if they will make it public or not, but they certainly won't do it like they did Ines."

"Hackett's being put on trial? What about that piece of shit Saren?!" Mikkai barked, angry and showing it.

"Probably the same, if he doesn't somehow worm his way out of being prosecuted. If they even prosecute him." Udina replied, his expression just as stormy as the Major's.

Anita knew that with Hackett gone they had lost their one real ally left on Earth, and the one person who could do something to try and get themselves out from under the Council's thumb. Hackett had always been the one able to fight against them and their sanctions, and was as much an Admiral as a politician. Without him, there was no real way they could stop the Council from continuing to drive the Alliance into the ground.

Everyone knew that as well, they all knew the consequences if Hackett was imprisoned. Only Anderson seemed to be calm, never once saying a word or seemingly disheartened by the fact that another Admiral would be tried and imprisoned by a foreign government.

"How long do we have?" Anderson inquired.

"Whenever the Council calls us. We'll likely see them in the next hour." Udina said.

"And Hackett?"

"He's still half a day out at least, as he went back to earth before Captain Epidinion found him." Udina said. "Hackett will be coming on his own ship oddly enough, but either way you three will be tried long before he gets here. I don't know what you will be getting, but I doubt it will be any better than what Ines got."

That was probably the first time Anita had seen Udina look actually sad, as the man had always been a hard ass and not very sociable with others. But over these last few years he seemed to have mellowed out, or at least had his less than desirable habits verbally beaten out of him in the perilous dance he'd been preforming with the Council.

It was sad to say, but those bad habits he lost were the very same ones she picked up as she struggled to deal with anymore bullshit the Council gave humanity.

"I need a drink." Shepard declared and moved for the door. "There any bars on this damn station?"

"They won't let you leave, but try the Embassy Lounge." Anita said, not even trying to stop the woman.

It wasn't like anything worse could happen now, not when they were ready to be hung.

* * *

 _Citadel Tower, Council's Private Chambers_

Tevos signed, feeling her anxiety start to build up as things got harder and harder to handle. The most recently relayed message from Anita Goyole was less than eloquent; the last few years have not done anything but destabilize that woman's manors and destroy her humor. Although, unsurprisingly, the demands of the Republic and the Council of Matriarchs were just as rude, only slightly cloaked in polite pretenses. Her position was in danger and she was being called up on many of her less than professional actions. It was at times like these that she almost wished she hadn't thrown her lot into being a Councilor; this job should have been left to the Matriarchs.

"Keep us posted." Valern said, cutting communication with the Cage.

"Is it contained?" Sparatus inquired.

"Yes, we have the Destiny Ascension stationed near the 'Cage'. The ship's Element Zero Core is providing power to the barriers holding the entity. Hopefully we can begin examination soon." Valern replied.

Tevos knew that they were referring to the Guardian of Elysium, Ichigo. One of the many anomalies that have been appearing throughout Alliance controlled space for the last seven years. A patient zero of sorts, being the first to ever be documented before the anomalies started cropping up like a disease. And yet, in an ironic twist, he had also been the first to be captured and contained.

The Cage was built specifically to contain and house one of these entities without any chance of escape. Years of attempts had been made to lure them out, to be captured, but all had failed. They either never turned up, fled easily, or all forces sent to contain them were killed in an ever-increasing variety of death. It was a messy job that had gone even worse than they'd ever thought it would, with each failure amounting to nothing but a waste of resources. The power of these anomalies was massive, overwhelming and impossible to oppose without a ship. And even with air support or heavy firepower, every anomaly they had met was impossibly agile.

But there was a suspicion, a theory crafted from thousands of hours analyzing just a few hours of footage, that their power came from a source. It was suspected their weapons, something as archaic as swords of all things, channeled phenomenal amounts of energy and power that they were free to use. Exactly how they wielded the power without disintegrating on the spot was still unknown, but their very source of strength was undeniable their Achilles heel. With them disarmed, they would not be nearly as dangerous as a threat as before, and then they could be contained.

Hence why the Cage was located over a million kilometers from the Citadel, and the blades just as far. They would be contained here for a time, until their scientists were sure they were safe to transport, before being taken to a more secure location where they could be studied. If they decipher the power of the Anomalies they could unlock wonders they never knew existed.

"Although we have a more immediate problem to deal with, one we cannot wait on."

"The Eden Prime incident." Tevos said, although calling it an 'incident' did not do it justice.

A Prothean Beacon, a massive Geth attack, hundreds of thousands dead _at least_ , nuclear weapons detonated on a garden world, one of their own Spectres present – and claims he was leading the Geth. These instances were so strange and clustered together that it was hard to understand exactly what had happened, and what was wild speculation.

The consequences if any this got out were bad, and even worse, one of the people behind the Beacon conspiracy had gotten to earth. Whatever Admiral Hackett has done they could not discern, but questioning had yet to return on who he met or why. But they had received no communications from, Earth so hopefully nothing had happened.

"We should deal with the immediate witnesses and then worry about the trial with Admiral Hackett." Sparatus proposed. "They hid the knowledge of the Prothean Beacon deliberately, and, if information is correct, Anderson was behind the mission to actually sneak the Beacon off Eden Prime. He, along with that Black Ops team, are accomplices in this."

Tevos was inclined to agree, but they had to be careful now. While the Turian Hierarchy had been more vocal on aggressive action against the Alliance, her own government and the Salarian union were less inclined to provoke a war. They desired to try and slowly withdrawal from the Alliance Space, fearing that if the Alliance splinters it could lead to territorial disputes. If the Alliance space has opened itself up to trade with the Attican Traverse and Terminus Systems, then there was no telling what it could mean for the future. The Alliance, for all their qualities, was a stabilizing element for them near those borders.

Their navy dealt with raiders and pirates along their own borders and in the Traverse, saving the Council the problem of patrolling those very same vast expanses of space and risk possibly igniting war. The Alliance was a deterrent and buffer for Citadel Space, leaving them only to protect their northern borders of Citadel Space from attack. But if the Alliance splintered, cutting themselves off from the Council, then they would be losing more than a member. They would effectively lose the entirety of the eastern traverse, which was near three times the size of the area of space that sits between the northern borders of Outer Council Space and the Terminus. All those resources, planets and territory lost, all in the hands of the Alliance and whoever tries to strike a claim there.

"That may not be wise, there was an entire fleet that took part in the operation and there are leaks outside of the containment area, and likely on Earth. If the conspiracy with the Beacon is correct, then we are looking at open revolt. Even if we contain this here, we need to make sure that we don't leave a way for the Alliance to use it against us." Valern replied. "Public opinion sways governments, and right now the Alliance is not the only one that has a majority pressuring their leaders to get our ships out of Alliance space."

Sparatus was quiet for a moment.

"My government is maintaining police action in Alliance space, until we can find evidence of these anomalies…"

"There is no evidence." Valern responded, irritation in his tone and his eyes narrowing. "Nothing other than the reports from the incidents on Elysium, Akuze, and Torfan, aside from a few scattered testimonies. That is all that exists about these beings, first hand and second-hand accounts of them that appeared from nowhere, and then vanishing back to that very same place. With the power to destroy armies and even bisect ships with old-fashioned human weapons, it would seem as little more than a mass-delusion if the mass-destruction wasn't accompanying it."

Valern threw down the data pad in his hand, and Tevos could make out the data and reports that were just mentioned. They were numerous, but she knew for a fact that the final report created by the STG was only thirty-eight pages long. In the last five years, all their investigations, all of their effort, and all they had to show for it was thirty-eight pages detailing some of these anomalies.

They had uncovered secret Black Ops organizations such as Cerberus, discovered illegal AI development on Luna, even evidence of long lost probes armed with nuclear weapons. Damning evidence, stuff that would set the Alliance back decades in their attempts to reaffirm the faith of the Council, but it wasn't what they were looking for.

Not one single shred of evidence existed that these anomalies were created by the System Alliance, and now they had strong evidence that these anomalies were just as many suspected. Extra-dimensional beings that visit their realm freely, this went beyond what they thought was even possible. It sounded completely fictitious, and yet here they were.

"We have been holding the entire human race hostage for the last five years, taking their rights, threatening them, and stealing what is theirs. Do you understand exactly how much damage we have caused?" Valern said.

"They are allies with them, you can see that! They are worshipping them, and so these anomalies have saved dozens of colonies that have been attacked…" Sparatus said.

"A poor excuse. I think you are still afraid, but of the wrong thing this time." Valern said, shaking his head and slowly taking a seat. "We will need to prepare reparations for this, for everything."

"You want us to capitulate?" Sparatus barked.

"We will have no choice in the end: either we do it of our own accord and appear reasonable, or do it to try and stave off them leaving the Council." Valern replied, his tone darkening. "It was a stupid move born from fear to jump into this. Had the both of you not gotten ahead of yourselves we wouldn't be in this mess."

Tevos took the blow in stride, because if she tried to argue back she would have been reminded of the same argument five years ago, after they had sentenced Ines. How Valern had pointed out that any further action against the Alliance would result in eventual reprisal. Of the three of them, only he had spoken against militaristic action and using the Turian Navy to take hold of Alliance space. Had she listened to him, heard his wisdom and not allowed her own fears come to the forefront of her mind, maybe this could have been avoided. But she caved in to Sparatus' demands for action and to stop the Alliance, should they prove to be responsible for the creation of these anomalies.

"How do we fix this?" Tevos asked.

"Delicately." Valern said, as if that weren't obvious. "Word will get out about Eden Prime eventually, whether we like it or not, of that I am certain. We keep a lid on it for as long as possible and try to repair the situation, because this isn't going to be another Krogan Rebellion or Quarian Schism if we don't. Those times we had the people on our side, and they agreed that we were punishing those who did wrong. Here we are viewed in the opposite light, something we need to change."

"We still need to silence the witnesses." Sparatus said.

"Keeping them quiet is one thing, but contained indefinitely is not. The only permanent solution is execution, and I don't think I need to tell you how that would go. However, we can keep the main ring leaders incarcerated until we can figure out a way to withdraw from Alliance space. Until then we will need a scapegoat." Valern said.

"Scapegoat…? Saren?" Tevos asked, surprised by the sudden move.

"Saren has always shown himself to have hostility towards humanity, do not deny it. If reports are accurate, and I trust our own men, he was on Eden Prime and in the possession of the Beacon and aiding the Geth. We have evidence, and even circumstantial at best is enough to work with." Valern said.

"He's our best agent, you would give him up because…" Sparatus started, but, like always, Valern never let him finish.

"I am sacrificing something for the greater good, to salvage this situation. Saren will take the blame, he will be tried and punished for his crimes, acting against our orders and in contempt of humanity, and using the Geth to achieve his goals." Valern stated. "We also look into his past activities and I am sure we can find evidence to support this. And if not, we can always speculate."

Tevos never thought in all her years as a Councilor that she would be forced to contemplate actually sacrificing their own people to appease another race. The Spectres were supposed to be above such a thing, a pinnacle of military might and discipline. But here they were, planning the downfall of one of their best Spectres, who they had to admit was a major instigator in the Eden Prime incident.

"Are we really considering actually sacrificing one of our best? Are you actually listening to this?" Sparatus demanded, looking to Tevos.

"We have no choice, this is our best chance to try to and shift blame." Tevos said, knowing that this was their best bet to save what was left of their reputation.

"It won't shift the blame, only give it a focus. We disavow and imprison him, but he'll still be associated with us. We need to turn these events around and actually earn forgiveness." Valern replied. "Do not think for a moment we can shift blame and walk away, not this time. We have to make reparations."

"How do we earn forgiveness? After everything we've done, how do you expect us to actually remain in positions of power? We will be pariahs!" Tevos said.

"Yes, we will. That is the point." Valern replied, leaving it at that.

Tevos should have known better than to think there would be a way out of this with their careers intact. Because she understood the moment he had spoken what that meant: their remaining time in office was not meant to salvage their careers, but salvage whatever relations they could on behalf of their governments before they were replaced. They would take the blame, shoulder the crimes they had committed against the Alliance, and be deposed for better leadership. That was what he was suggesting- he wanted them all to crash and burn.

"I expected to be replaced soon enough anyway, as I have a Dalatrass on my case as it is to keep you both in line. The last thing I want is let my entire family become disowned because neither of you had any impulse control." Valern said, turning to glare at them. "We act out this carefully, we do it my way for once. No more brute force or less than subtle political threats, we settle matters with Hackett and then begin the investigation into Saren. From there we start making our way to repair relations and re-establishing proper trade with the System Alliance, and also drop these sanctions."

Tevos nodded, agreeing with his assessment and finding their next course of action as reasonable enough. Her own ideas have been less feasible, as for all her skill and experience, she had no real way of escaping the hole they had dug themselves into. But Valern could do it, he was a former STG Lieutenant before he became a politician, he knew how to think his way out of a problem. His mind was politically brilliant in a way hers just simply wasn't.

Had he taken charge sooner maybe things would be different.

"We still need to try Captain Anderson for the Beacon, they did make anattempt to steal it." Sparatus said.

"That is the only reason we have to imprisoning him, and probably the only course that our governments agree on in spite of the situation." Valern replied. "But I have plans for that, for now they will be put under arrest and await sentencing. I have already sent for them, they should be here soon. Can I trust you to follow my lead?"

Tevos had no idea what that Salarian was planning, he had been on the Council for eight years now and in that time, while proving himself, had had never really taking the reins and led. While they were equal she had always been the one to take the lead, trying to maintain a civil and calm atmosphere when negotiating. It almost got her curious as to how Valern would go about this little meeting with the Captain and his subordinates.

Sparatus didn't seem to share her thoughts, however, as he gave a gruff grunt before taking a seat in his own chair, folding his arms in irritation and waiting. Tevos gave an affirming nod towards her Salarian counterpart, ignoring the fuming Turian, and he responded in kind, while also pressing a key on his omni-tool.

A minute passed before the doorway opened, marching into the room were several people. Captain Anderson being the only one that Tevos recognized, and that was only because of their previous meetings in the past. But the three others with him had to be the other members of their little group, Major Mikkai was a definite, and also Gunnery Sergeant Ashley Williams. Although, she did not expect to see Jessica Shepard strolling in at the back of the group.

"Captain Anderson, thank you for joining us. I hope that the fiasco at the Embassy did not cause you any problems." Valern spoke up.

"None whatsoever." Captain Anderson replied, his words crisp and curt.

"Good, I assume that you know why you are here?" Valern inquired.

"The Geth attack on Eden Prime." Anderson spoke up, raising a brow and seemed curious about what response he would get back.

Tevos was wondering where this brazenness came from, after all, he never showed any sort of mischief when he was forced to speak before them. Always to the point and never anything but serious, it was a little worrying to see him so calm.

"That is part of the reason… the other involves many of the different factors about that attack. A lot has been laid before us and I have to say that things are looking bad, for both of us." Valern said. "You know that withholding Prothean technology, especially a Beacon, is a harshly punishable offence. Even with the accusations levied against us and one of our Spectres, the Salarian Union and Asari Republic are not happy. They are asking for your immediate imprisonment alongside Admiral Hackett. And while I am inclined to agree, I think we can work this situation out into something more beneficial for all of us." Valern said, interlocking his fingers and leaning back into his seat. He seemed so at ease, usually Valern was rigid and upright instead of leaning back casually in his chair.

Anderson neither replied nor spoke up, and only continued to stare the Salarian dead in the eyes, unwavering even as the accusations piled up.

"We both know that we are in a bad situation. Eden Prime was a very important colony to the Alliance, but Saren was just as important to this Council. The loss of life there, along with the instigator behind it being a Spectre, I don't think we need to mince words and deny that this will cause problems for both of us." Valern continued. "Further tensions is not something either of us wants, not because we already have enough as it is, but because this will result in actual retaliation instead of building enmity."

Tevos noted that the good Captain was curious, raising an eyebrow and actually considering his words. Good.

"Considering what you have put us through with all these sanctions, I think we have good reason to feel the way we do. But how is it that your problems are ours?" Anderson inquired.

"Because we know that the System Alliance would struggle, and so we have left you in a position of weakness. Your fleets are scattered, military near non-existent with the events of Eden Prime, and your people divided." Valern said. "All of it was caused by us. We are the instigators of, if things continue as they are, your end."

Tevos turned towards him, worried he might say something that could slight the Captain. But the narrowing of the human's eyes seemed to be the only response, one that showed he was in full agreement.

"That is without a doubt true. So, how do you intend to fix it?" Anderson asked.

"Help you rebuild. It will take time to fix all these mistakes, but the only way forward is to extend the hand of peace. I don't expect us to be friends after this, I don't expect that the Council will be forgiven, but I do intend to make sure any mistakes we made are repaid. In full." Valern said.

Tevos looked on, watching as the Captain and her fellow Councilor stare each other down. Valern was never one for subtlety, always blunt and honest. That was the way he was, never being sly or underhanded with his words. He may measure what he says or be quiet when the times called for it, but when he speaks every word holds truth. She knew that Valern couldn't lie or manipulate Anderson, not when that man had dealt with the three of them long enough to know just how they operated.

Besides, this wasn't about manipulating him, it was about letting him know that he had won.

Valern was doing that now, he was admitting to Anderson that the Council had done wrong and that humanity was right, and they were going to make amends for that mistake. Sparatus didn't seem too pleased, his pride likely stung for being associated with such slander. But at least the Turian could hold his tongue.

"I take it the reason you in particular are speaking is because Councilors Tevos and Sparatus didn't agree." Anderson asked.

"We both know that having either of them talking isn't going to do us any good; one will shout and demean, while the other will add in thinly veiled threats. I am being as blunt as possible here because that's the only way anyone can be honest anymore. If we let this little game continue both our nations will suffer for it." Valern said. "We will make peace, and hopefully we can put aside our differences and fix this."

Tevos, for all of her personal grievances, hoped that Valern's words were reaching him, that the Captain would actually consider this proposal. She knew that Anderson would speak with the Admiral and possibly relay this through his own network. If they could reach an understand, not a friendship but simply an understanding, then whatever plans he might have in the works could be influenced, changed, before they could be executed and likely degrade the situation even more. Hackett was their most dangerous enemy in the political scene, but if they could make him an ally, then they could get out of this mess.

"It would be beneficial for us both to come to an agreement. If we continued to oppose each other, it will only lead to further tensions and eventual collapse." Tevos spoke up, hoping to add her own words to the matter in spite of previous warnings.

She knew that Valern did not want her to speak, the subtle turning of his head and the tightening of his expression proved that. But she needed to also show that the idea was not just from one member of the Council, that she and Sparatus were going to support Tevos, even if they weren't happy about it. Divided they would appear weak, but together, pushing past personal opinions, they would be strong.

"Yes. Tevos is correct in that regard." Valern stated, sounding annoyed as he spoke her name. "Things have been less than pleasant. As you are likely aware, the Citadel is not as prosperous as it once was. Crime is on the rise and humans sadly are being targeted, along with any sympathizers. Many have been affected by this: not only humans, but all other races as well."

Tevos wanted to speak further but she felt a hand on her knee. She gave a subtle glance and found Valern's fingers digging into her leg. It was obvious he wanted her to be quiet, it vexed her a little he wanted her to remain quiet and not speak. They were equal in this, they should not be restricted in voicing their thoughts.

"What about Ichigo?"

And with such casual ease, the hardest, most frustrating topic was clawed up.

Tevos turned towards Jessica Shepard, and saw that the woman was the picture of calm annoyance, arms crossed and posture casual and confident. She was reminded of when they first had attempted to try and detain her, to question her on her involvement at the very start of the assumed conspiracy. But it turned out she was just an easy target to be used to soak up praise for the Siege of Elysium, to take focus off the real hero who has saved everyone. If the people were given an answer, and they would stop looking after all.

"The anomaly, yes, he is being detained for the moment…"

"Locked in your 'Cage' I suspect." Shepard shot, some bite in her words as she interrupted Valern.

"And where did you hear that?" Sparatus questioned, quickly on the defensive.

"Those Blackwatch assholes who hauled us here and him off wouldn't shut up." It wasn't entirely true, but it filled her with vindictive happiness to imagine the Council scrambling to find out who was blabbing all their secrets.

Tevos glanced at the Turian, worried that the aggressive move on Shepard's part would cause problems. Sparatus was never one to take a challenge lying down, always on the offensive and quick to take any advantage to win an argument. It was somewhat admirable, but the trait lost its appeal when the man refused to take other's opinions into account when he became too involved.

"Please, he isn't what we are discussing here. This is about humanity, this is about rebuilding the Alliance after our policing actions!" Valern said.

"Humanity? You want to help humanity after you made us prisoners in our own space, took away our rights and liberties, and chained anyone that spoke out against you?" Shepard asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "How many colonies were attacked by raiders while you did nothing to defend them? How many tens of thousands died because you prevented us from protecting our own borders and colonies? You lorded over us like tyrants in your castle far away and didn't give a damn what happened to us."

"We acted rashly, we won't deny that." Valern said carefully, trying to appeal to the erratic Lieutenant. "What we did was never to harm humanity, it was for the stability of the galaxy. We made mistakes, many mistakes. But we can't change the past, all we can do is make due with where we have now and try to fix it."

"Like you tried on Eden Prime?"

"I…don't understand." Valern replied.

"You don't give a rat's ass about humanity; you would murder everyone left on that planet if it benefited you and your Council." Shepard boldly accused, glaring at each and every single one of them. "I heard as much from that lapdog standing over there, so don't you fucking dare say that you care about us. All you want is to maintain that fleeting power of yours."

"Captain, please put a leash on the Lieutenant." Sparatus said.

"Leash, you would like that wouldn't you? Humans under your heel, put down and knowing where they below: beneath you." Shepard said, but she shook her head ruefully and had a smirk to match it. "But not anymore right? You did all this because you are afraid. Afraid of us, of what we can do. Afraid of who has our backs, and is willing to protect humanity."

Tevos was concerned with this rant of her, yes, but she was more concerned that her superior officers were making no moves to stop her. All they did was stand there and let her vent, and that set off warning bells in her mind. What could be going through their heads to allow Shepard to act this way?

"Please, restrain yourself. We are not attacking you or casting blame aside, we are trying to settle this matter in its entirety." Tevos tried to placate, though she almost didn't know why she was trying to get on the woman's good side. Her behavior by all rights should have had her removed from the chamber, but if her Captain was not speaking out then what she said likely had his interest.

"It _has_ been settled. We don't want to be friends, and we don't want to be allies. We don't want to be part of your Council." Shepard said. "Do you know what the Anomalies have taught us? That they don't have to obey, they don't have to listen to anyone else. That's what scares you: they are the one thing in this entire galaxy that can stand up to you and do whatever they want without having to worry about retaliation. That terrifies you, because you have nothing to bargain with, threaten them with, or manipulate them into doing what you want."

Tevos wanted to snap at her, she truly did, but years of diplomatic training and over three centuries under the wing of an Asari Matriarch had not been for nothing. She would not lash out, she would not give into provocation, for her strength was with words and how to use them.

"I would be careful how you speak here right now, Lieutenant. You are still being tried for your role in the theft of the Prothean Beacon." Tevos said.

"Like I care." Shepard smirked. "You can't threaten me, you can't intimidate me, because I know now that you are scared. Scared of humanity, and the anomalies that protect them. Well guess what? You have every right to be scared, because that guy you just locked up is going to get out and he is going to come here. And he is going to show you exactly what your authority means."

Tevos did not like the smug certainty she had, not one bit. How could she be so assured that what she said was going to come to fruition?

Tevos looked to Valern, and noticed that he seemed to be thinking deeply. Eyes shifting and mouth parting without a sound passing through them. Sparatus was the opposite, his chest heaving as he took in deep breaths and fought to keep himself from yelling.

"How do you think humanity is going to feel when they hear that their 'God' was hurt protecting Eden Prime and that the Council took him and put him in a cage?" Shepard asked. "Even it can't hold him, even when he's wounded and unconscious; I know he will get out. But when people hear what you did on Eden Prime, who started the slaughter, who saved it, and who you are trying to contain, they will be screaming. Screaming for you, the Citadel Council. You don't know just how deep you have dug yourselves, and there is no getting out."

Tevos had just about had it with Shepard, with this entire meeting in fact. She was just about to call for the guards to escort them back to the Embassy when a communicate came in.

"I am sorry Councilors, but we are getting a distress call from the Destiny Ascension."

Tevos looked at the blinking message, it was still live. Someone was transmitting from the Destiny Ascension and directly to her.

"Guards, take them out." Sparatus instructed, motioning towards the Alliance group.

It took a minute before they were out of the room, not a word was said between them as they left. They were calm and without worry, something Tevos couldn't say the same for herself and her colleagues. Truly worrying at how they could be so calm, at what they knew that the Council didn't.

"This is Councilor Valern, what is…"

He didn't even finish his query before he heard the shouting.

"This… Captain Lidanya, the Destiny Ascension has taken heavy damage! We require immediate assistance!"! I repeat, we require immediate assistance!" The voice of Matriarch Lidanya shouted over the comm, "The Cage has been destroyed, the Anomaly is loose!"

Tevos turned towards Valern, only to find his fellow councilor had frozen.

"Dammit! Is anyone receiving this? I repeat… destroyed! He overloaded the damn fields and destroyed the station. The ship…urgent need of help! Please send…one!" Lidanya continued to shout over the comm.

Tevos rose from her seat, stumbling away from the table. How could this have happened? There was no way it could have escaped from the Cage, it was designed to contain something like him. He was unarmed, without his source of power! Without a means to attack, there should have been no way to escape!

"Why can't I hail anyone! What do…the receiver is down! How do we…" The message was cutting in and out. Soon a new voice was on the comm. frequency.

"This is Spectre Nihlus Kryik! The anomaly is moving…!"

"Spectre Kryik! Do you read me? This is Councilor Sparatus, do you read?" Sparatus shouted.

"… Get the guns online now! It is coming… do you hear me?"

"This is Councilor Sparatus!" He had changed the comms. "I want all available ships to converge on the Destiny Ascension, it is damaged and requires assistance!"

"How did it escape?" Valern said. "We took every precaution."

"By the Spirits! Are you reading me?!" Nihlus continued to shout over the line.

It was a nightmare Tevos could scarcely imagine, even as it unfolded before her very eyes: An anomaly loose so close to the Citadel, and one that they'd surely angered, leaned against the window, feeling the room sway and her head spin with thought, white noise taking over her entire perception. Except everyone else was swaying, and only then did she realize that the room was actually shaking, the rumbles of a distant thundering sound faintly echoing.

"What the hell was that!?" Sparatus demanded.

"Sir, it was a collision! Something touched down in Zakera Ward!" Came the reply over the line.

Tevos looked to the arm that housed those wards, but she could barely see anything from this distance. What could have caused such a violent quake that it was noticed all the way at the tower and Presidium? There wasn't a single asteroid that should have been in line to collide with them…

A horrifying through occurred to her, a warning given to her only minutes ago by an incensed and determined Lieutenant. One that she did not wish to even acknowledge, but feared it to be the truth. It didn't matter if it seemed ludicrous, nay, impossible, it was the only explanation. . Only the final shout over the distress signal from the Destiny Ascension confirmed her darkest fears.

"… It is coming! The anomaly is heading for the Citadel!"

* * *

 **There you have it. The plot thickens.**


End file.
